Awards & All-NBA Selections

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Speaker 1: Oh my god, how could he do that? Don't what Charles Darwin. Welcome everybody back into NERD Sesh. As always, I'm Carson Brebber, and alongside me virtually is Logan Camden, and today is a mega NERDS Says show because we are going to be running through all of our NBA awards picks, are all MBA picks, are all defense picks, and are all rookie picks. So we'll try to go through quickly with stuff that we've already addressed because some of these topics we've already kind of gone through. But we're gonna be following all the real rules, which unfortunately means for all MBA and all defense stuff, we have to abide by their positional rules, which is two backcourt, two forwards, and then one center. It's dated, it annoys me. It means that we can't necessarily get the best guys for those respective groups. But that's how they want to play, That's how we'll play it, and maybe we can get into some of the frustrations with that with our specific picks. But let's start with the awards segment of this, and let's start with the biggest award of them all, MVP, which I think we've spent the most time on. But we'll give our top five candidates for this and then for the other awards, we'll give our top three. But let's start with the bottom and build towards the top. Here, Logan, Now we talked about our top five guys in the MVP race a few weeks ago. My list hasn't really changed, but let's move quickly through it. Who do you have in the five spot in my five spot cards, and I've got Steph Curry. And Steph has been just as elite as he was in his last MVP run. And I think a lot of people are quick to jump and want to give him this MVP award. Obviously, with the circumstances that he has dealt with, I think are severe, maybe one of the worst circumstances for any superstar in NBA history. I think it's one of the toughest in the league today. But the reason, obviously he can't win this award is because he did not lead the Warriors to a top seed. But I think he deserves to be in this conversation for what he's dealt with around him. His second best player on this Warrior's team. Is Draymond Green a complete non threat on offense. When it comes to scoring the basketball. He is an elite facilitator still at this point, but he has to bear this overwhelming scoring load for the Warriors to stay competitive each and every night, and he has dragged this roster to a playoff berth to thirty seven wins, to competitiveness every night. Granted, Andrew Wiggins has gotten better, Kelly who Brady's been shaky. It's just the makeup of this roster is not what we have seen of obviously these Warriors teams of the past and are subpart compared to the rest of the league and what other situations superstars had to deal with. So is step in your top five or who's in your fifth spot? Yeah, well, Logan, I'm not actually a loon, so of course I have stef in my top five. I think you're a loon for having him fifth. We're talking about a historically great season, and by the way, winning that when he has been on the court is comparable to some other fringe candidates guys you might have in and around the five spot, like the guy I have fifth, who's Luca Doncich And I considered Damian Lillard, a very similar candidate whose team currently has the same record. I consider Jimmy Butler, another guy with a similar record, and then I considered Rudy Gobert, who's a really unique candidate and it obviously his impact is so singularly felt on the defensive end. I considered all these guys. I ended up going with the guy who I think has the most pronounced offensive impact and who was the best player of the bunch. And I really considered Dame as the biggest challenger here because their production and team success and offensive impact has been so similar. But Luke's putting up twenty eight, eight and eight and a half. The MAVs have been four points per one hundred better with him on the floor this year, And when you compare him to Dame, their teams have an identical on off difference and offensive rating. They both make their team's offense eight point six points per one hundred better, a massive margin, and they're both defined by that ability to generate a lead offense. Luca creates slightly more total offense, Dame is a bit more efficient, but I just think Dame is more help At the end of the day, the Blazers went three and two when he was out. The MAVs have gone two and four without Luca this year, And yes, Dame survived that initial stretch where Nerk was where CJ was hurt, but they didn't really get better when those guys got back, And I think that that kind of speaks to First of all, obviously they're massive defensive issues, which Dame is only a part of. But I also think that it just shows how well equipped Luca is to comparatively carry an offense because he doesn't have that second star and he hasn't had a team that has been healthy that consistently throughout this year. And I think that he's also slightly less of a minus defensively. I think that he's better at creating for others. I think he's a higher level pick and roll force, particularly as that facilitator, And so I think that there's sort of a give and take with the two of them, because obviously Dame's advantage as a shooter is so pronounced and significant, but I think it all around his scores. They're very similar as playmakers, I lean Luca, and I think that Luca has just done slightly more to actually carry his team this year. I don't think he can go wrong with the two of them. There was a point in which I said a tiebreaker for Luca was that he was trending in the right direction while Dame had really slowed down. Now Dame has picked back up a bed as of late, so I don't know if that matters all that much. But at the end of the day, we're talking about the five spot here, so it doesn't matter all that much. Let's move into fourth. Who do you have there? Well, I want to ask something. If it's cool with you, Carson, I want to touch on it's a topic that we've we've glossed over in the past. It's two guards over having over Chris Paul in this Is he even remotely in this conversation for you? Well, I named three other guys who I considered, and none of them are Chris Paul. So hopefully that answers your question. I don't want to do the same anti CP. Spiel All gives some of the talking points there later on why I think his contributions have been slightly overrated this year, sometimes significantly overrated. But no, he was not all that close to my top five. Okay, Well, at the number four spot. This will flow naturally. I've got Luca here, I mean, and you you ran down the case another number of Carson. When Lucas not on the floor of the Mavericks offense has an offensive rating of one hundred and seven point six with Luca on the floor, obviously one of the greatest of all time, one eighteen point four. It's staggering with Luca has done for this team. He has dragged them in here in the similar ways that Steph has. The reason that I have Luca above Steff. It's a very miniscule difference. Those four wins than me matter though at the end of the day, Luca his Luca. The Mavericks had more wins than the Warriors. Maybe that's two binary of a scope, but I think it's reasonable enough. They're higher in the standings. I think that means he should be higher in the MVP race, but they have essentially equivalent records. Wind step is actually on the court. They're thirty six and twenty six when Steph plays, which is totally competitive and in the mix for that same range that the Blazers and the MAVs are in that five six seed tie that they're in right now, So that argument, to me, it just needs a little bit more context. I mean, I can talk about Luca's talent compared to the Blazers, and I think that they have more offensive firepower the Blazers do. But the MAVs have a bunch of real quality role players. And right now, we've seen the Warriors run through a couple of the best teams in the West, with guys like Jordan Pool as your fourth best offensive player and guys like Guantoscano Anderson making significant contributions. And not that those suck, They're kind of diamonds in the rough, But I don't think it compares to the depth of talent in Dallas, where your fourth or fifth guy is probably a Jalen Bronson, a Tim Hardaway junior or Josh Richardson, really good NBA players who are established and have defined impact. That is just on a different level. Yeah, I don't know. I guess the Mavericks injuries also played into it a little bit, just that they haven't been fully healthy. But I completely agree that there's way more There's way more wealth of talent in Dallas. Yeah, I just think Steph's better. I think that their teams have remarkably been pretty much equally good when Steph is actually out there, So to me, that just really establishes the gap between the two of them. I think very highly of Steph in this conversation. I think it's ridiculous when you say that he should be the MVP, but I think that outside of the actual MVP, he has almost as good a case as anybody. You think I said he should be the MVP. No, that was not specifically, okay, second person you. That was speaking generally to the public. Some people who might say that, obviously you don't. You have him fifth, You're a fricking loon for that reason. But I have Jannis in the fourth spot here, who I think is just having another Yannis season, and it's not on the level of the historic greatness of what he did last year. But you've put up twenty eight, eleven and six while playing at an all defense level. Your team significantly better with you out there. You're uber efficient, you have this tremendous gravity as a playmaker and as a scorer, and you're on an elite team. It's obviously not as exciting as it was when it was new. The Bucks aren't as good as they were the past couple of years, but they're really good. Jannis is great. I think he kind of has to be in the top five. Yeah, I've got Yannis at three. He's dominated the interior like he always has, eighty three point three inside three feet this season, and he's flourished with the shooters that they've put around him. Chris Middleton, Bobby Portis, Brent Forbes. This is I mean, yeah, you've heard it before. This is just the maximization of Jannis. They have maximized what he can do here this season in Milwaukee, He's anchored the number ninth ranked defense. I've got him at number three, And I was wrong earlier in the season, Car and you convince me, then it's complete voter fatigue. Janis has to be up here, and if you're not, it's just because it's old and that storyline isn't fun anymore. Yeah, And that's something that we see play into every single MVP race pretty much, which is somewhat unfortunate, although I don't think it's going to play a significant role in this year because we have so many fresh, new, exciting candidates. In my third spot, I have Steph Curry, who obviously is a revitalized candidate after not being in that conversation last year or really for a couple of years when he and Katie were always split in the vote. But it's a historic offensive season. We've talked about it so much. But you put up thirty two, five and a half and six on forty eight forty two ninety two splits for team that's winning a lot right now, you're gonna draw some eyeballs. The Dubs are eight point eight points per one hundred better with him, as I said, they're thirty six and twenty six when he plays, one and seven when he doesn't, and post All Star breaks, specifically after coming back from that injury to has took us, he has been otherworldly thirty four point four points per game post All Star Break, the Dubs are seventeen and ten in that stretch with a level of talent that just shouldn't be able to achieve those heights, and a lot of it is because they've been so good on the defensive end, and Draymond is a remarkable basketball player still at this point. But you mentioned it. Guys who we thought were going to be among the more talented players on this roster, like a Kelly Uber like an Eric Pascal. They haven't fit and they haven't actually been able to contribute to winning, and the Warriors have been better with those guys off the floor. And Wiggins has had his moments. He's just had a phenomenal game against the Sun's probably the best game of the year for him after a really slow start. But for a third best player out west, for your second best scorer, certainly it's pretty remarkable to be now established as a playoff team and closer to being in that five six range than being completely out of the play And when your best guy is playing, that's incredible. That's because of Steph and I really did consider him for the two spot because when he is on the court, the Warriors have won two less games than the Sixers have with them beat out there like availability is huge and Beads missed twenty games and that really matters. And whatever two way impact Embiad has, Steph's offensive impact is just on a different level like Embiid. As dominant individually as he may be, the Sixers are an average offense as a team on the year as a whole, and Steph takes this group of rugrats and he makes them functional because not only does he have the greatest gravity of any player in NBA history right now, he's arguably the best pick and roll scoring basketball. He's far and away the best shooter. He's obviously remarkable finishing, and like all of that is just monumental. But at the end of the day, the precedent to me says, if you are as good on an elite team as singularly dominant, especially on both ends, as Mbiad has been, even with some miss games, I give him the slight edge there, but I think Steph has made it very close with the stretch that he's been on, and I would say that definitively with Mbiad the time he's missed and what we've seen from them on the offensive end when he's off the floor, I don't think you can blame the seventy sixers average offensive output on the season. I don't know, just to him, like they're off the floor, dude, this offense does not move the same. They are no, of course no, And they are a really good offense when Mbiad actually plays. That's true, they're team offenses average as a whole, but they were really good offense when Mbad plays. My point is just as a post force who doesn't have the playmaking impact of a guy like Yoki, he cannot do for a team what Steph can on the offensive end. It's not even close. Yeah, there's the output has been different and it's circumstantial. But but you have Himbad officially second. Correct, That is correct? I assume you do as well. You want to talk about that for a second. Yeah, I mean we've seen him, We've seen Embiid uh. I think you know you can't blame you can blame him for not having the same playmaking gravity that Steph has or continue develop in that area in the same way Yoki has. He has that same gravity in the post where the guys have to commit and have to come over, and that does create playmaking opportunities. But I mean, this season we've seen Embiid take his jump shooting to a different level. He's completely dirty with that face up game. And that's why he's in this spot is because he's a dependable guy. Layton Games. You can give him the rock, turn it over to him and trust him to knock down jump shots. This season, you can trust him in that role to be this go to guy in a way that he hasn't before. And I think the way we've seen him without, the way that this offense has performed without him on the floor, he's propelled him to another level. You know, this is a carson. I think this is a completely average team with Embiid not out there. Offensively and defensively, he dramatically, you know, like I don't know, Stephen, Luca and Dame are in completely more difficult situations. But I wonder how he looked at the seventy six ers roster differently if Embid wasn't here. Yeah, kicks him up a different notch. And I think is definitively the second guy in the league this season, and the numbers back that up. His impact on winning has been as pronounced as anybody. The Sixers are thirteen point six points one hundred better with him out there. That's the best mark of any star player this year. They're thirty eight and eleven when he plays and eleven without him. And the guy has transformed himself into one of the best offensive big men ever while he's also playing at an all defense level and having such a tremendous impact as that room protector on the other end. But you touched on it. We've said it so many times over when he became a fifty something percent jump shooter, when his face up game became that lethal, it was over for everybody. And now that's the point that we're at, and he's a top five player in basketball, and he's putting up twenty nine eleven and three on fifty two thirty eight eighty six splits, And even when he's only playing twenty five minutes a game, like he has been a lot as of late, he's still gonna put up twenty five and he's still gonna get to the line ten or twelve times because there is no way to stop him without fouling him. Basically, he is that unstoppable on all three levels now and is the best post scorer in basketball, and so I completely think that he is a deserving second guy as well. I was more trying to give props than I was takeaway from anything Nbad has done. I just think the ambide missing games factor in the tear that Curry has been on made this a lot closer than I ever expected it to be. But I still think these are our top two guys, but we have the same number one. Finally, Logan. The consensus has come around as well. Some people have continued to try to push for something else. But it's the guy who has been deserving all along. As we were saying in the first couple weeks of the season, Nikola Yokich, why don't you briefly run down why he's the guy. It's what I'm what I'm doing right here, Carson. It's called beating a dead horse, which is what we do with Nikola Yokich on Nerd Sesh. I mean this season, Yeah, he's been otherworldly. Please, if you have not at this point, please watch Carson's video on Nicola Yokich. It's amazing. Twenty seven to eleven and eighth this season on fifty six nearly eighty seven, shooting splits, and I'm just gonna give some of the historical precedents here. He's one of two centers to average eight assists per game in a single season. Wilt is the only other in nineteen sixty eight. He's one of eleven players in NBA history to average twenty six and eight for an entire season. He's the only center to average twenty six and eight for an entire season, and he's the only center to shoot fifty six percent from the field in thirty nine percent from deep in a single season on this volume. Fun fact, the only other center to do that on less volume Thomas Bryant this season in the last really right, he's an elite company there, But you want to talk about they've got plus nearly fourteen offensive points per possession with him on the floor and a offensive rating of one hundred and twenty one point three with Yogats on the floor. And I would say, comparatively to the other top two candidates, in my opinion, he's had more difficult circumstances than either of them. You know, after losing his running mate in Jamal Murray and beat as two all star caliber talents and Harrison Simmons, Jannis has got two all star caliber talents and holiday in Middleton, and they've been relatively healthy and yet to still still the Nuggets have been dominant with or without him, you know, without Jim Murry's putting up twenty eight ten and eight still on fifty seven percent shooting from the field, and they're fourteen and seven without him. He's had to deal with tremendous circumstances this season, and I know like we predicted here on NERD SESSH. Michael Porters Jr. Is filled in as a transcendent scorer, and I think he is. I'm so glad you've come around on him, Carsonite. I knew you'd like HIMPJ. But still it has been tougher than Nuggets and tougher yokis without Jamal, and without him, the Nuggets probably aren't he gonna playoff team. Yeah, I mean they're eleven and four since Jamal Murray got hurt, and as you mentioned, Joki hasn't missed a beat and this offense hasn't missed a beat. What else do you need to hear? Because it's not just that they didn't have Jamal. They won five straight without Jamal Barton or Monte Morris, and that, to me, was the stretch that shouldn't have eradicated any doubt in anybody's mind about a guy who was already having the greatest offensive season of any big man ever. You laid it all out there. It's all time efficiency, it's all time volume. As a scorer and as a playmaker, he incentivizes people to play the right way. He makes everybody around him better. More than anybody else in basketball. He competes on the defensive end, and yeah, he doesn't have the tools there, but he tries. He's been out there for every single game, and he's on a team that is really punching above its weight right now, and it is truly among the league's elite with right now or I guess now the Barton's back not anymore, but for a couple of games with Kuno Komposo is their third best available player. It's not like it was like that all year, but they were injured at the start of the year, then they lost their second best player, and continually they have found a way because of Jokis. He is by far the MVP. He's had one of the greatest seasons ever this year, and it'll be really fun to see how it carries over into the playoffs. Any final MVP thoughts here that we haven't already touched on. No, all right, let's keep it moving then, because we got a lot to get through. So now we're not gonna go five deep for every award. We're just gonna keep it to three. But let's talk about what is, in my opinion, the second biggest award defensive player of the year. Who do you have getting the bronze medal here? The bronze medal I am giving to Ben Simmons. And the reason here is, you know what kind of what we talked about him be it's the pieces around him. You know, I think you laid out a case earlier for him being the best perimeter defender in the league, and I think that's fair to say. But he does have a little bit of decent help around him in Joel Embid who's a really good rim protector and he can feed guys in there. And he's got Matisse Thybel who is really freaking good one. Hopefully you'll have manors. We'll get into him later, but I just think that Ben has got a little bit of wealth around him. Also, he's a six ten guy guarding guards. Of course that is going to be a lot easier for him. And I mean, he's been a leading his role. He's great at getting into passing, lane's clamping up. Team's best guy. But to me, he's got a little too much help comparable to other guys. And the Sixers have been still really good defensively without Ben on the floor, So maybe I shouldn't be holding that against him. I still will, and I just don't think his impact can be felt as much as a dominant center who can take over a game. And that's the thing that you have to gauge here. And that's why actually I have Draymond Green here in my three spot. And it's so tough because I was really debating him and Clint Capella because I think it's exactly the dichotomy that you touched on. It's more impactful versus better, and I think you could easily argue that Capella is more impactful. He has completely changed what is possible for the Hawks this year. Their defense is seven point three points per one hundred better with him out there. They go from the second worst defense ever to a top five unit. And he holds people ten point three percent below their normal shooting at the rim. He averages two point one blocks per game. He's a lead on the glass. The man is damn near as good of a drop defender as there is in basketball right now. He's a force there and we saw him win the Hawks a game just the other day. He blocked Russell Westbrook who got downhill easily, and he saved the game for them. And he does that stuff all the time. He's playing the best basketball of his life, and so that made this a really tough call. But who is the better defender. It's Draymond Green, and I don't know how close it is in that respect, Like we see guys like a Brook Lopez have that phenomenal season where he's playing drop coverage and he protects the rim. But Draymond has a skill set that so few people in NBA history have had. Averaging one point seven steals a game, point eight blocks per game on the year, holds people five point one percent below their average field goal percentage. And I honestly considered calling an audible and moving up to sim moving him up above Simmons, who spoiler alert I have second last minute, just because Simmons obviously has really great versatility as well, but not at the level of Draymond, not where you can match him up with the league's truly best centers or just centers period night tonight. And he can hang. And yes, Simmons is the better perimeter defender, but is he the better all around defender when you consider how good Draymond is in the interior, And I'm not sure because at the rim Draymond holds people sixteen percent below their average field goal percentage. That is the best mark there is of any volume rim protector. And he's also a brilliant communicator, such a leader on that end, so crazy switchable, able to compete at any position and be one of the best in bat basketball. Like just for me being in person a couple days ago at Sun's Warriors, first time I've been to an NBA game physically in over a year, seeing the difference between CP going against a traditional big man like a Kavan Looney who is considered to be perfectly capable out on the perimeter by those standards, and CP is just torching him time after time after time, and then suddenly it's Draymond, and Draymond either starts the possession on CP by design or immediately switches onto him in any advantage you would think that screen would get him is nixed like that. It just helps you appreciate how important that versatility is and how all time he really is there. So maybe he should be second. Maybe I'm just going with the hive mind here because everybody said, oh, Simmons for deploy and I will say I was one of the first guys to say he's the best perimeter offender in basketball. I said it over a year ago, and that hype all started this season for the most part. But I'm okay with Draymond at three because I think that I don't know, he's the best player on a really good defense. Simmons is also the best player on an even better defense. They're very close. They both great, neither of them winners, so maybe I'm overthinking it. But who do you have second? No, I'm so glad that you I want to touch on Draymond for a second. I'm so glad that you shouted him out. The rim protection role is insane, and also the Warriors defense goes from nearly one nineteen to one ten with Raymond on the floor. Obviously, subport talent as well there, and Draymond has helped lead them to a really talented defense on the year. But I love the shout out. He was really close to making the cut for me as well. I ended up going with Bam at a BAIO in my second spot for It's interesting now. I think there's definitely an argument to be had similarly about the help that Bam had comparatively to a guy like Ben Simmons and embiid Well. Bam has got a really good perimeter defender and Jimmy Butler who can help out in those ways. But I think in a similar way to Draymond Man, BAM's versatility is what cements him in this spot. For me, he is the most switchable pick and roll defender I think in basketball, and he is d the heat to still, you know, an even better defense than this year, improving with Jimmy. When I would say that they've had less help on the wings after losing a guy like Jake Crowder, all the depots filled in well. And I hope he gets well soon. He's not going to be back for the playoffs, is he He's out for the year. Correct, he's done. That's gonna hurt him. But they've had minimal help on the wings as well, and Bam has continually led this team as a rim protector. But the versatility as what sells at home. Man. He is so smart rotationally and he can close out on shots. He is the perfect modern day big man. I'll look at all up. I'm sorry, guys. It's another one of videos, one of Carson's videos you should check out. Peep it. Yeah, I think that Bam is so important when basketball really matters because of the switchability, because the versatility. I also think as far as the regular season goes, he doesn't always have that same individual impact on team defense like a traditional rim protector does. Because he's a good rim protector, he's not a truly elite rim protector. So if I'm picking my five best defenders on the planet, it's Bam out of BIO. If I'm picking my top three deploy candidates, I don't know if it is just because you kind of have to go on the resume from this individual season, and I don't know if his impact was quite as pronounced as a guy like Capella, who's not as good of a defender, but was probably more impactful this regular season in my opinion. So let me ask, if I can get like a gauge of where you're at for like a ranking like this, then are you taking Miles Turner or Bam out of BAIO? I'm probably taking Bam. It's very close, though, But I mean we're talking about guys who are just outside of my top four candidates, might be literally in the five and six spots, So right up there in that conversation. Second, I do have Ben Simmons. I'm starting to wonder if that's right, because I think that I kind of sold myself on the Dramond pitch, Like the fact that the Warriors have a top five defense this year is crazy, and so much of that has to do with Dramond, and the Sixers are very close to the best defense in the league. But also, as you mentioned, they have a couple other guys you could easily say are all defense and nobody would batten eye. But I think that if Simmons is not the second most impactful defender, he might be the second best. Give in his position, holds people five percent below their normal field goal percentage. Forty one percent is what people shoot when Simmons is their primary defender. Has some of the best hands in basketball, one point six feels per game, is so hyper aware, so mobile, so switchable, so much length in just athleticism and constant effort and engagement. I want to reward that. And it's close between him and Draymond. It's not all that close between him and the guy who have in the one spot. Though. I assume we're going to agree here. If not, I'm gonna send some threat virtually to you. I couldn't get the thoughts together, so I really slowed down my speech that are by myself time and I never found the way to say it. But who do you have winning deploy? Yeah? I think a lot of I think too many people watch inside the NBA and hear Shack say some dumb nonsense about you know, Rudy Gobert not scoring enough, and people all take it as Rudy Gobert sucks. Do not listen, do not follow, don't be don't be a sheep mind, please, Rudy Gobert is still the best defender in basketball, the most impactful. He's still a dominant room protector. You know, we led the league in blocks among qualified defenders two point seven per game. Players shoot fourteen percent worse than average inside six feet on Gobert. That's the third best marketing the league. He's also very swishable. Earlier on in the year, Carson, you talked about players shoot three percent worse than average from deep one garden by Gobert, and he's only ninety three percentile. Love players defending against the pick and roll, and his elite performance is translated to elite team defense. Once more, it's in the ninety nine percentileve defensive points per possession. The Jazz obviously have the number four defensive rating in the league. But the big sell on this Carson still teams attempt the team's attempt and make the least three's on the Jazz defense and attempt and make the most twos in the league. That matters. Yeah, that is important in this conversation. The most valuable shot in basketball Rudy Gobert limits because of his switchability and ability to close out on shots, and that that is I'm not just going to attribute it to him, but the next best defender on this roster is Royce O'Neill. Gobert is the anchor of this team. They have a defensive rating of one oh three point seven. With Gobert on the floor, it jumps to fifteen points higher. When Gobert isn't out there eighteen. This is voter fatigue if you do not have a go bearer in this spot. He is still the most valuable defender in basketball by far. Yeah, he's gonna go down. Is probably one of the ten best defensive players to ever play this game. And you gave a bunch of the numbers I have very similar ones, but has the second best opponent field group percentage differential of three hundred and two qualified players, and for me, qualified is five or more field goals defended per game thirty five plus games played. People shoot seven and a half percent worse than him. You mentioned the number at the rim, fourteen and a half percent worse. That's the second best differential. He allows the fourth lowest opponent field group percentage at the rim, and their defense goes from being comfortably the best in the league with him out there to being basically the Blazers one of the worst defenses of all time. As you said, and you mentioned the other key stat, teams make the least three verses them at the second lowest percentage. That is because of Gobert. That is because you see the intimidation factor every single time he steps out there with one of the longest wingspans and smartest brains to ever play basketball. That makes for a hell of a weapon. And that's what Gobert is. And he is still getting better on that end, and I just put together one of the best campaigns of his career. But he's a walking top five defense and that's just a really special thing to me, and so it's not close. He's obviously deploy and if you think anything else, we strongly disagree. Okay, let's move on to one of the other big three awards here, Rookie of the Year logan A race that has gotten pretty interesting, really a two man race though, But I think the guy in the three spot is clear as well. Who do you have third? Yeah, I completely agree. In the three spot, I've got Tyrese Taliburton. I think it's been pretty clear as Sason long between these three guys, these three guards, they stood out initially. But Haliburton here's in the three spot. His numbers may not blow you away. I mean, obviously it's because he is not he didn't get as much rub at the start of the season, and also because of the King's heavy backcourt. You know, he's had to split time with Buddy healed. But still in the minutes that he's gotten, he's been extremely productive and efficient. Thirteen points per game, five assists a night, on over forty percent shooting from deep forty seven percent from the field. You just don't see guards that are rookie guards that are this efficient and this mean this much to winning immediately and I don't think that anybody else. I'm trying to think of guys that maybe Patrick Williams was outstanding this season. He really impressed me, as did Desmond Bain, Sadique Bay, James Wiseman. But none of those guys out of the gate had the impact on winning that Haliburton did. And that is what I think definitively puts him in that three spot. Nobody's close. Just an all around really good basketball player. The shooting translated. He can handle out of the picket, roll and make good decisions, he can push in transition, he can compete on defense. He's long, he's smart, and he's very skilled, and he is a fantastic foundational piece for Sacramento. I'm not gonna say anymore than that because I don't think anybody is even close to him in the three spot. I think we're gonna agree on the winner here. But I'm not sure who do you have second in the number two spot. I've got Aunt and I don't. I don't know. I guess the case for Aunt is we have seen him explode scoring wise as of recent and um that you know, we've seen the timber Rolls come away with some wins. He's a he looks like a different beast. He's more confident. He's never mind, let me rephrase that. Aunt's never been short on confidence. He's just he's he's an all time high now. But it's just beautiful to see when this kid is on. He is on. He's an absolute flamethrower. He can fill it up. He's explored Jose into the lane. But to me, the case against Ant is pretty simple. You know, he just didn't. It didn't translate to winning enough immediately when the guy who is in the one spot clearly did from day one. Because of the capabilities and what he brings to an offense, Aunt is mostly just going to I'm not saying he's gonna be a ball hawk, but he needs the ball in his hands a lot. He doesn't open up a lot of other shots for his teammates, and that matters whim talking about this race and contributions to overall winning and success. If you want my full thoughts on Aunt, go ahead check out the video I did on the Tea Wolves, but you touch on it. Post All Star break, we've seen a new player putting up twenty three and a half on fifty six percent true shooting in that stretch, that's like fringe All Star level production. He's been amazing, but pre All Star break was half the year, and in that half he was fifteen points per game on under forty seven percent true shooting, like unthinkably poor efficiency and just a guy who's finding his footing and there's nothing wrong with that, Like this is no bearing on what he's gonna be. What does have bearing is what he's been as of late, which is a versatile, incredibly skilled score, an all time athlete who is going to dominate a lot of games because of the tools that he does have. But we didn't see it nearly as consistently in the first half of the year, and there was another guy who was ready right away to come out there and produce and contribute to a team in a number of ways that was trying to win and did win. And that's why I think you have to give it to LaMelo, who I have in my one spot, and you agree, why is it LaMelo? I mean, LaMelo was similarly efficient in a guy to like Tyrese Haliburton forty four percent from the field, thirty five percent from deeps. Jump shot took a minute, but once it came along, he was decently reliable. But we talked about LaMelo a lot. He's he's a transcendent playmaker who, again just from day one, could immediately just help an offense because his great passing vision. He's got stupid touch when he gets into the lane. Man, I love watching LaMelo pull up with floaters from just inside the ark and you're the free throw line. That's a scary shot. But he is just such a well rounded offensive player. He rebounds well, he moves the he's got tremendous passing vision. And this season the Hornets are twenty three and twenty five with him, they're ten and eleven without him. I would say there's not really a necessity in Charlotte immediately for him, just because of how many guards they have, how many talented guys can get buckets. But he is the one who was. He was more impressive than Haliburton and more. I wouldn't say he contributed. It's tough. I can't say who's more of a winning basketball player right now, but LaMelo was just clearly better than Haliburton, and Aunt did not really translate to immediate success. So team wise, when LaMelo's clearly did. Yeah, I have Lamello, and I just think he's put together the all around season and we've seen it offensively where he can be so good out of the pick and roll, with the floater, with the playmaking, or he can kill you off ball he's forty percent off the catch. We've seen his playmaking on the defensive end, his good hands there, like he's great play to play, but one point six steals a game, having something of an impact there, And it's just been great because for this class, we've seen a lot of best case scenarios. And I was never really low on this class once we actually got into the draft process, but there were question marks about all these guys. We didn't know if Lamela was going to be able to really shoot the ball, and now we know it's one of his greatest weapons. And because of that, I think we're looking at a future superstar. With Aunt, it was always okay, does he have to touch the intermediate game, the playmaking, the defense, and I can't say we have resounding answers on all of that, Like it would still be nice for him to have more of a floater, more of an in between game, and the playmaking is promising in some respects, but there might still be a ceiling on it. The defense isn't always their play to play. But we have seen is he has traits that are transcendent even within the NBA. His first step is special. That wasn't just a college thing. That's an NBA thing. When he's locked in. He is a killer jump shooter in pull up situations. And so I just think there's a lot of stuff that bodes really well for this class as a whole. And I think that this is a really good Rookie of the Year race and a couple of guys who are going to impact this league for a long time. And Haliburton is another guy who I liked initially in the draft process, then I talked myself out of and I thought he doesn't project as a primary ball handler. And guess what, he doesn't have to be. He's just a really good basketball player who does a lot of stuff really well. And so, like I said, just a lot of best case scenarios. And we'll get into our all rookie teams later, but I think it's been a really fun class. Okay, let's move on now to sixth Man of the Year. I think There's a lot of good candidates here, but who do you have in the three spot? Yeah, definitely. The three spot was tough to choose between my guy and Shake Milton, who I want to touch on briefly. I think Milton come playoff time, might be one of the most valuable six men in the league, just because of the role he's going to have for Philadelphia and because of his talents on the court. What a great shot maker he is in the mid range, how he's able to get to his shots, how he's able to knock them down in traffic. I went with a guy who, in my opinion, just does a little more for winning basketball and is a little more versatile. That's what we like here at NERD session. I went with Jalen Bronson. Is my three spot. This is it's my guy, man, He's He's still my twitterhead. This is this is my boy. Nearly thirteen points per game this season, three boards, three assists, on fifty two, thirty nine seventy nine shooting splits, and you know, his numbers off the bench may not blow you away comparatively to some of these other scorers guys who just fill it up, But like I said, he does so many little stuff, little things. He's a great off ball relocator and catching shooter. He's I'm just gonna I'm gonna be repetitive here. You know what, man, he's rating transition. He's a great cutter. What my YouTube video on Jalen Brunson I was pretty sweet. But Brunson's impact has been felt. Man. They needed. He's the perfect guy who can play alongside Luca in leading offense off the bench, and he's just a well rounded basketball player. I got you won on your team one same reasons I have Brunson third. When you can be ninety three percent out of the pick and roll and also make forty three percent of your threes off the catch, and then also shoot better than fifty percent from mid range, you are a great basketball player I want on my team. He's cerebral, he impacts the game in all of its phases. And I think that there are a lot of other guys who deserve him here. I considered Tres, I considered TJ McConnell, Thaddy is Young, Gallo Shak. Chris Bouchet will throw in there as an honorable mention. And I think that the stiffest competition was probably Tres because this is the raigning sixth Man of the Year who I think has been better than he was last year, has a more well rounded game with now some of the face up stuff that he's added, and is as competitive and as much of a dog as ever. It's just with a lot less volume. But it's what you said. I just think that Brunson's impact is much more multifaceted. And you could argue that guys like McConnell and Thad would like a word in that conversation because they bring a variety of things. For TJ, it's the playmaking, it's the defense. For Thad, it's also kind of the playmaking the defense and the ability to get a bucket as well. I just think Brunson is better than both of them. I think he's a more efficient player, and I think he's a guy who translates to winning in an easier way because both those guys are a little bit funky. TJ can't really shoot the ball and that limits what you can be in some situations, and Dad kind of weird to have that is like your high post playmaking. I don't know that that works on a really good team. It works Situationally, Jalen Brunson works anywhere, and I think he worked the best of any of them this year. So now we're looking at our top two, and this final result I think is something of a foregone conclusion. As far as who the voters will actually pick. Jordan Clarkson is a massive favorite. But I said at the midseason point that I thought it should be CO six Men of the Year. My thoughts have changed since then. I won't say in which direction, but who do you have second here? Logan? I have Joe Ingles here in second and you swayed me back then to convince me that he should be here. And I think there's a lot of really good reasons why you want to talk about Brunson fitting air anywhere Joe Engles would. He's a great shooter, and not just great man. He's had the twenty second hot true shooting percentage in a single season of all time. He is a stupid efficient shooter. He doesn't miss. He's a sneaky good passer. You can look up highlights of him, you know, throwing role passes on the ground. He's smart, he's cerebral in away of a point guard in the way he moves to basketball. He's got great touch, great vision, and Joe Ingles may not play like the prettiest brand of basketball for you, man, but he's a he's a really good offensive player. It's I wouldn't call him pretty, but he's his game is yeah, I think his game is beautiful. And he's not just a sneaky good passer. He's a great passer. Like he's one of the best passers in the league if you extend that to I don't know, twenty names or so like, he is just a phenomenal basketball player. So I don't have him second, I have him first. And at the midseason point, I said, it's been all about Clarkson. I think Ingles arguably does more to impact winning. Will call it a draw. They're both so special to what makes Utah so great, and we'll reward both of them. But Clarkson has taken a downward turn since then. Since All Star Break, he's shooting sub forty percent from the field, thirty one percent from three, and he has nights like he did against the Warriors a couple games ago where he drops forty one and you just think that dude's bag is so deep. That man is a three level score, who is one of the most confident players in the league, and that's a terrifying thing to have to face. But he scores up below average efficiency on the year as a whole, and he doesn't do anything else. And I like Jordan Clarkson. This is not gonna be anti Jordan Clarkson, but the Jazz are four points per one hundred worse with him on the floor this year. And Joe Ingles does everything well. Twelve four and five on sixty eight percent true shooting, as you mentioned, forty six percent from deep. He's a seventy eighth percentile pick and roll score. Can really run offense in those stretches. Who also shoots forty nine percent from deep off the catch can fit in with any unit. Is a brilliant playmaker. It makes you better on both ends defensively, has a legitimate impact. The dude is feisty, he's smart, he's got good hands, holds people five percent below their average field group percentage. That's a top fifteen mark in basketball among qualified players. So I guess it just comes down to what else do you want? Are we just going with the traditional definition of the guy who's going to score the most points off the bench. Are we gonna go with the guy who I think actually impacts winning the most and is the best player who I want on my team. If we're going with the ladder, which is what I'm going with, I think it singles by a lot. Do you disagree? I think it's really close. The one thing I touch on, though, is you say, those nights where Jordan Clarkson goes off, you know, he really feels like a special transcendent three level score. I would agree, but I think there's like a I don't know, man. I feel like most people realize or should realize, that if Clarkson's jump shot isn't hitting, he is a complete non factor to have team. So maybe it's a good reason to knock him off. I mean, but like Jordan Clarkson's game, dude, he is horrible at finishing around the rack. He is not good at he's not good at dealing through contact. He's not really good at getting to the rim at all because he lacks that burst. He's a little sneaky and slithery in the lane, but his game is so much more predicated all knocking down those tough jumpers in the mid range and all around the perimeter. If oh, I think you've talked me into it, man, Yeah, you're darn right I have. And it's just interesting because Ingles isn't really going to get all that much consideration at all, but I think he obviously should. He's a perfect role player. Damn you, Carson Breber and your tremendous arguments. Is that an official change? Yes? I am going with Joe Ingles. Let's go, baby. All right. That was the goal for today, get Logan to change one of his awards, and we did it already with a couple to spare any other people. You want to shout out here before we move on? Did you say Christian would at all? I mean, I just I'd like to shout the mannel for sixth Man of the Year Logan. You're misunderstanding what shout out is. I don't just mean generally, I mean specifically for what we're talking about. Oh yeah, I'll shout out Dennis Smith Jr. Okay, all right, you're done here. Let's move on to Coach of the Year, which I think is another really interesting one. Who do you have in the three spot? Here? In the three spot, I've got Tom Thibodeau, And I mean, I think the reason that Thibodeau is in my three spot and not any higher is another reason that I don't want them to give him the award. Thibodeau's case is so narrative based, I feel like, and it's just because the Knicks haven't been good and so long and he has helped them get here. I'm not saying it's not impressive, but Tibodeau does this with every roster that he has. You know, he slows the game down, and I just feel like TIBs shouldn't be rewarded for doing the same thing that he's done everywhere he's gone. I'm not again, it's not I'm not saying it's not impressive. The Knicks don't have a wealth of talent around them. Their best players are Julius Randall and R. J. Barrett. He deserves credit for getting them to thirty eight wins in a chance to you know, win a playoff series this year. But I feel like the majority of this has been narrative based. Not that he's got an excellent team defense, and I don't want to take that away from him, but it's it's what TIBs has always done, and it's not like the Knicks are anything special when I the two other candidates here have been way more impressive than what they've done with their stiff competition. I can't say a majority of it is narrative based. I think a segment of it is narrative based because it's in New York obviously, and it's such a starved basketball team. But the Knicks have shattered my expectations more so than honestly maybe any team in my entire life. And I really thought about having Tibbs in my number one spot. I have him second. I'll just give my spiel on him now, though, because I thought this team would win fourteen games logan one of my worst takes ever. I thought they were going to be the worst team in the league. And it's tough to isolate his impact in some respects from individual players, like how much credit does he deserve for Randall's development becoming a more reliable jump shooter and a more savvy playmaker. Probably not all that much. That's probably more about Julius because that was aren't exactly areas in which Tibbs teams generally excel. How much credit does you deserve for our je getting better throughout this year, primarily as a shooter. Tough to say, but what you can isolate is the fact that with very similar defensive personnel last year they were twenty third in defensive rating and now their fourth. That's coaching, that's understanding an identity and committing to it in a way that actually helps you win games. And that's what TIBs has done. And is it going to take this team to be a contender? No, But how the hell could you expect that given the talent that is on this roster. Because they maximize value from the guys we mentioned to Burke's to d Rows, they just get great guys. Excuse me, they get guys who aren't great to play in a way that actually leads to winning. But I do think there's a guy who ultimately just coached a team to be great in a way that matters a little bit more, because the jump from terrible to above average is really impressive, but the jump from above average to all time grade is a little more impressive. And that's why I have a different guy. I'm on number one spot, But any final comments on TIBs, that's the guy who I should have shouted out for sixth Man of the Year man Derek Rose. Yeah, I mean the terry has been on late, has been phenomenal. Dude. Well, I just the Nicks desperately needs someone like him to fill it up. I will say I am tired at this point. Man. Every time he touches the rock and I hear whoever's on commentary that night talk about Vinage d Rose, I don't want to. I don't want to talk about old Rose anymore. Man. The one that we have now is still an excellent basketball player. Man, he is, and now he's in He's an excellent jump shooter, he's he is the total package off the bench. I wish I'd given him a shout out, but yeah, Tips deserves credit. It's interesting that people say Vinyage d Rose also just because he plays nothing like Vinage d Rose like, it's so much more about the jump shod. I mean, he's still quicker than ninety percent of people out there, but there was a time when he was quicker than a one hundred percent of people out there. And he's just a different player who's still really good, as you mentioned. But who do you have second? I actually gonna get my third guy first. Of all, because I talked about TIBs, who I have. Second, I have Monty Williams third, who I think is probably gonna win this award. And I can understand it because everybody on this roster progressed. Mcau got better, Johnson got better. Campaign Oh boy, did he get better. He has Tory Craig playing the best basketball of his career, and this team has a clear two way identity, and they're elite. I just think there's another coach for whom all those things are true as well, for whom I had very similar expectations, whose team has just been better and who has impressed me a little bit more. So. I don't really see his case over that guy. But I think Monty has done a phenomenal job and is certainly deserving as a top three candidate. Monty deserves a lot of credit, you know, even dating back to when we saw this team go eight no in the bubble. I mean he was he was a big proponent of that. But he's also been a big proponent of what this team has done this year. But you touched on a Carson. I think this is a much improved team roster wise, adding Chris Paul, seeing a big jump from these players. Adding Jake Crowder, he deserves his credit, but I think that wherever the standing shake out to end this season is where the award should go. And ultimately the Sons are not in the one seed out West. So you have two who do you have? Number one? I have Quinn Snyder. I assume we will agree here, and I just think in this instance, you know we haven't seen and I know why you think that many will get it as well, because of the dramatic turnover from last season finally getting this team over the hump into contention into this two spot. I think consistency deserves to be rewarded here. With Quinn Snyder, they have consistently been great, and I think part of it is due to the cohesion of this roster. Obviously they've played together so long, but Quinn Snyder has been there for every bit of it too. And they're a lead again this year, top five in offensive rating, top five in defensive rating, the number one net rating in basketball. They went on the longest wind streak of this season. We shouldn't forget about these things, and we shouldn't go with where the narrative has taken us, which I think is too traditionally, as it's been in coverage of NBA media again this season, just completely overlooking Utah. We go to the narrative of the Suns. Quinn Snyder has been consistently great and the Jazz or the best team in basketball this season. I think consistency needs to be rewarded with this award. Yeah, I have Snyder number one as well, And the reason is I had almost identical expectations for the Suns and the Jazz, and one team has overperformed by more. As you mentioned, They've been truly elite on both ends. They've shot the ball from three at a higher volume than any team in NBA history with success and just everything has gelled beautifully, And so much of that has to do with Snyder, because they entered this year with real questions, Like this team had a disappointing end of last year with Boyon out, with just the Conley fit not really working, and then Conley finds that role and now he made the damn All Star team. He shouldn't have, but he was great this season. And this is just a team that plays together so well and maximizes everybody's strengths. And I also think not only are they the best team, and things like net rating will tell you they're the best team by even a wider margin than record does. They also haven't had the Sun's crazy injury luck. Phoenix's top four guys have missed five games combined this year. Logan that happens once a half decade. Man like that is crazy luck. And the Suns are really good. But the Jazz have dominated without some of their best players. They're fifteen and six without Conley, there were eleven and six without Mitchell. We've seen them win a majority of their games without both of those guys, and they may have more talent too, top to bottom than the Suns. I think that we already touched on. You know, they have two of the best six Man of the Year candidates, another guy their last person who will probably be playing real playoff minutes, as Derek favors. Maybe Yang gets out there, but Yang is fine as well versus the Suns, who the question was kind of their role players, and their role players have ended up excelling. So you could say that's an argument in Monty's favor, But I just think it comes down to similar expectations. One team is better than the other they've had to endure more injury stuff, and they have been so superb on both ends and so consistently dominant that I think you have to reward the guy at the top of that because they've done it without a superstar, unless you consider go Bear or Mitchell a superstar, which I don't think that you can, because the case is tough to make. For Mitchell. When he wasn't playing his best basketball, they were still elite without him. They've still won games. And so that's just the machine that is the Jazz, and I think that Quinn Snyder is the mechanic behind that. All Right, last award here, most Improved, Who do you have in the three spot? At the three spot? It was really tough to decide between two guys, Carson. The guy I ended up leaving off was Jeremy Grant, And it's weird because, I mean, he took such a big leap, but it didn't I don't know, it didn't matter in Detroit. Improved playmaking wise, jump shooting wise, defensively, all of his categories. Obviously some of that due to volume of opportunity in the three spot. I went with Zion Williamson and his straight up numbers may not blow you away, twenty two and a half to twenty seven to assist a night to four, six boards to seven, But with the I guess with the questions that I had about Zion's game after the first twenty four and the season, I don't have anymore. I know that he's going to be an impact player on winning and he's improved into a really good playmaker and ball handler in the half court. He's a completely He's the most dominating interior force in the NBA today, and it's there were just questions that I had about his game last year that I don't anymore, and I think that's why he's in the top three. But also it is translated to winning in New Orleans, where I think Zion can be a winning basketball player and Jeremy Jeremy Grant is ultimately this is why I left him off. Grant is ultimately a guy that I don't want being the best player of my basketball team, and is why we saw such a dramatic increase in his numbers. I concur I think that Zion is one of the three most improved players in basketball this year, But when it comes to most improved player, I just try to avoid second year guys because that's just kind of the pressing that we have, and if you're not giving them the award at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. Maybe I should have Zion here in my top three. I guess they're a MPJ two, but I just don't like giving it the second year guys. So you make a very strong case. My faith in Zion compared to what it was last year, has skyrocketed. My perception of him as a player has completely changed to where I think he is now an undeniable all time special offensive forces, getting better defensively to These are things that I didn't expect to be saying about him at twenty years old, but that's kind of the thing. He's twenty years old, and when you're still finding you're footing in the league to that extent when you're that young, I just don't think that's what most improved is really about. But I mean, he's phenomenally improved, no doubt about that. But I have a couple of guys who have stuck around and have taken that leap deeper into their career, and at three, I have Jalen Brown, who definitely has not gotten better by as much as Zion did, but up to scoring by four point three points per game, up to his assist per game by one point one, and I just think got better facilitating, got better handling out of the pick and roll, just became a more well rounded offensive force to where now I just have more faith in him creating for himself and having a truly dominant scoring night. And that was always the question with him. It's okay, he can score twenty points per game, he can be that great off ball player who can get his own shot in spots and defend at a high level, But can he actually be a co best offensive player on a good team. And yeah, he's not as good as Tatum, so I guess he's not truly a co best offensive player. But he's a second offensive star. And maybe the Celtics under achieved, but it's not Jalen's fault. And I think he got a lot better, and I think he got better in a way that is meaningful, Like he didn't go from scoring nine points per game on the Pistons to fifteen points per game on the Pistons. That's not a shot at Jeremy Grant because I actually have him on my list, and he is obviously scoring more than fifteen a game, but the twenty to twenty five jump is a big one, and it's a jump that I wasn't sure he could take, and I think he should be commended for that. So I have Jalen at three. Who do you have second? Yeah, I consider Jalen as well. I just feel like this recent stretch has cooled me on him a little bit. But I have a guy that you brought up in my number two spot, and maybe maybe in the general spirit of the award, you make a really good case that I shouldn't have Mpja here because it's not traditionally how it goes. But I did end up going with Michael Porter Jr. A ten point increase from last season nine to nineteen, and we've just seen him have such a more volume of opportunity in this offense and he has thrived. You know. I feel like the nineteen points per name is misleading to a lot of people with what he's done in these last fifteen like without Murray on a team where I guess he is getting fed a lot, and it's a perfect situation here for him in Denver, where all he is expected to do is knocked down tough shots, get to his spots and put put the ball in the bucket. It's where it's a perfect it's a perfect situation for him. But he has thrived in a twenty five points per game on nearly fifty eight fifty one shooting splits in his last fifteen And I guess maybe you can make a case that he was this good at shot making last year. Maybe this is why he shouldn't be here. I just think the scoring increase, the weight that has been expected of him in Denver, He's lived up to everything they've asked of him, and yeah, I think it deserves to be rewarded. Man a bigger opportunity, and he has continually balled out. He is an elite shot maker and he can't do he can't do anything else on the floor. He's so offensively unaware. I don't care, man, This guy gets buckets and he's a guy one on my roster. What I think is interesting to sort of ponder is if NBJ had this kind of touches last year, could he have done the same thing because the shot was this special last year, and like he got this scary look in his eyes sometimes where he said, Okay, I'm the best player on the court, I'm gonna go take a bad shot, and that wasn't fun to see. But when he was getting it in the right spots, he was pretty special to watch at some points last year. So I agree with you, he's gotten a lot better, been a phenomenal jump. And there's a case you can make the second year guys when they take a jump that is this meaningful belonging the conversation, like what we saw from Sga or Luca last year. Guys who really took that massive jump in their second year and still earned consideration. But at the end of the day, I went to the guy who'd been around for longer and then took that more surprising jump in Bi and that's kind of just how I generally leaned with this award. But the guy who have in my second spot definitely not as meaningful of a jump as Zion or as MPJ. But I do have Jeremy Grant and he cooled down a lot obviously as the year went along. There was a time where he was averaging twenty four game efficiently and that was pretty exciting, and then cooled down, got hurt pistons are terrible, so understandably people cooled on that conversation a bit. But I just think his skill actually has improved. His handle, his ability to get downhill is better. And when you can increase your scoring by ten points per game and still hover just a bit below league average efficiency, where you can say, okay, that's somewhat legitimate, I think of that deserves to be rewarded. And yeah, I don't think Jeremy Grant is ever going to be the best or the second best player on a really good team, but he's pretty darn good man, and he can play both ends, and I think his passing is a little bit better too, And being the number one option on any team is really hard, and being able to do that and score again twenty two points per game and have hangible improvement in your skill set is really impressive. So I have him. Second, who do you have winning this whole thing? I think, in the general spirit of this award and how it normally goes, I think we're gonna agree it's Julius Randall. I mean, this is a dude who, when he entered the league was a back to basket athletic. You know, rim rolling guy who you know couldn't defend or anything. He gives effort on defense. Now he is handling, it's he's knocking down shots. It's I never thought Julius Randall could become what he has this season. And just from last for context, goes from nineteen and a half points per game to twenty four, nine and a half boards to ten three and a half assist a night to six, and from twenty seven percent from deep to forty two nearly. It's it's crazy, it's night and day. And the strangest thing is Carson. When Julius Randall is not on the floor, the Knicks don't score. The Knicks struggle in five and like they are completely inept with Randall off of the out of the game, and sometimes the Knicks offense will come to a standstill where Randall will be forced to take these take these mid range jumpers in the lane and have dudes in his face, and he is good at knocking them down. Now. The biggest improvement we have seen is that difficult shot making from Julius Randall the three ball this year, but we've also seen him come a far piece and playmaking and handling the rock and just taking a bigger offensive load. It's summer. I never expected Randall to get and he has exceeded all of my expectations for his career. I was wrong about this guy. Yeah, he's the No Brander choice. It's really an awesome story all around, and I'll always regret. At the beginning of the year, I tweeted about his jump shooting improvement and compared the numbers compared to last year in his whole career and said, this is the definition of unsustainable, and it wasn't. He's just a better shooter. And you mentioned the ability to get into the mid range, the ability to knocked down the open threes, the ability to be the best offensive player on a team that is firmly in the playoff discussion, even though the offense isn't their stress. It's just a kind of player that I never thought he could be. His understanding of how to utilize his gravity as a playmaker is so impressive. Like the dude collapses defenses. Man, he is tough to stop when he's getting downhill, and then he can also navigate that mid range area and beat you there. The defensive growth is tremendous. And again, these are just things that I never thought were possible. I didn't expect him to shoot fourteen percent better from three, or score four and a half more points per game, or put up three more assists per game on a team that is also way better. And I don't know if people ever get carried away with it like it'll be interesting to see how we feel about it when we get into the All NBA discussion. But he is certainly the most improved player in basketball this year in a way that is really really meaningful, and as deserving of a winner of this award as we've had. You know, we always have a deserving a winner for this, but he's certainly is won as well any other honorable mentions. If you want to shout out here, No, I meant to a shout Christian Wood for this award. Yes, okay, I would shout him out as well. I just think Christian Wood was so good last year that he doesn't deserve to be the winner or anything. It was partly volume of opportunity getting to show what he could really do. But I still think he got better. I think he was more comfortable with the floater. I think he was more comfortable shooting from deep I think he was more impactful defensively. He makes a strong case as well. That guy is so so good, and it's gonna be so fun to see him again in a motivated situation next year, because it's been fun watching the Rockets lately. Man, I'm not gonna lie. I'm fascinated by Alinic. I love Armani Brooks. I love seeing guys out there who like I've just never played basketball but kind of look competent. But Christian Wood is their best player, and him alongside a really good rookie next year, count me in. Man, that's gonna be fun. That concludes our awards portion of the show took us about an hour, so if we can keep this segment to the same length, I think that that's a reasonable enough amount of time to expect you guys to listen through. Let's start with all NBA first Team. I'm just gonna read out who I have, and then we can talk about anything that is surprising, because I think that some of these are no brainers. I have Steph and Luca in my backcourt, I have Yannis and Lebron in my front court, and I have Yokich in my center spot. Who do you have and then we'll discuss our differences and what stands out to us. So I also have Steph, Luca, Yannis, and Yokich. I ended up going with Kawhi Leonard instead of Lebron from my last forward spot. Okay, so I think that there's three absolute no brainers here, Steph, Jannis, and Yokich. I think some people will have a division between Luca and Dame, maybe even Luca and CP, depending on how they view his value. But let's start with Lebron versus Kawhi. So this was something that I had to really think about. How I want to wait because it's weird having Lebron on first team with forty three games played, But when it came down to it, it was either him with forty three or Kawhi with fifty one, and I don't know if that gap really matters enough. Both those guys are missing a significant chunk of the season, and in this weird year, we're so many of the candidates for these all MBA and award recognitions have missed a decent chunk of the year. I say it's not enough to actually impact who I think was the better player on this year because I think Lebron is just better than Kawhi twenty five, eight and eight on fifty one thirty seven seventy splits. His team was twenty eight and fifteen with him, they were twelve and fifteen without him. They're eleven points four, one hundred better with him on the floor, defensively held opponents to forty one percent shooting when he was out there. Yes, Kawhi is on the better team, and Kawhi has been out there a little bit more on the year, But I also think that Lebron's value was in part showed by the collapse that occurred with the Lakers when he was out there, and you know, they started to play a little bit better as of late eighties, kind of started to put the team on his back. But he's got to get it back out there sooner enough so they can really get into form for the playoffs. But to me, he's still the best player in the world. He wasn't the best player this regular season. That was a guy named Kola Yokich, But I think he was better than Kawhi when he was out there, and eight games isn't enough for me to ultimately make my decision based on how healthy were you here, a persuasive silver Ton make Carson Um. The logical part of my brain right here is telling me to go with Lebron. Um. I don't know. I just think maybe this is recency biased. But without Lebron, the Lakers are completely incompetent watching Alex Caruso and this cast of characters try to become primary ball handlers without him. That's that's the big part in this Lebron discussion. That is that is eating me on here. Is just that the Lakers just suck without Lebron, or they just they stink without him. And he's also been without a d as well, among other injury issues with the Lakers. So I'm gonna stick to my guns. I'm gonna stick with Kawhi just because he has been a little more healthy, he's been out there more, and I feel like I can't even say that I was gonna say their impact is comparable on the court. It's not the Lakers without Lebron. Are they stink? I can't even I cannot make a I can't make a fullhearted argument for Kawhi here because the logical part of my brain says Lebron. But I'm just gonna go with the health part. I'm gonna say that Lebron wasn't healthy enough to get at the first team. Nod. Yeah, that's fair. It's just weird how we have to draw lines in the sands here because we're kind of an unprecedented territory where they've both missed a good amount of games. I will say the Clippers eleven and seven when Kauai is not out there, so definitely fair better as a team if I can persuade you to join me. But I understand it. I think I'm going to be an odd man out having Lebron first team. I think most people will have Kauai. And again, it's just a weird negotiation. Let's briefly talk about Luca Dame. I basically already made my case with the MVP discussion. I laid it all out there. Is there anything you want to add to that? No, I mean, I just we've touched on him before. Dame has more will work with more guys who can take the load off of him Luca, and like game scenarios is, he's the only guy this offense can reliably create their own shot, don't I don't think it's particularly close unless you like you said, want to go to the shooting numbers, which are the only thing that favored game. Yeah, I think that it's close. But I think that another tiebreaker for Luca is just that I believe he's the better basketball player, and I think that's a fair enough tiebreaker if you're talking about guys who have really similar resumes. So we largely agree on first team. Let's get into second team. So here, I have Dame as we kind of just hinted at James Harden as his back court mate, Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler, and Joel Embiid. Who do you have? Okay, so we do have some differences. I have got Dame as well. I've got Bradley Beal at the other guard spot than Lebron, Paul George and Joel Embiid. Very interesting, Okay. So Kawhi, Dame, Embiid all no brainers. It's a bummer. Embid can't be on first team. He was absolutely one of the five best players in basketball this year. He's technically eligible at forward, and that is part of the stupidity of how we do all MBA stuff, because there are few centers who are further away from being a forward than Joel embiad. He is as pure of a five as there is. But when we decide, hey, we want to give him at this stuff, we say he can be a forward, I'm not gonna do it if I can't reasonably look in the mirror and say, yeah, that guy's kind of that position. I'm not going to try to break these dumb rules that we created that don't make any sense. But though it's a good way, we disagree. So Hardened versus Bill, I'll make the case for Hardened first. So putting up twenty five eight and eleven on forty seven thirty six eighty seven splits on the year and has just had a tremendous impact on winning. The Nets are twenty eight and seven with him since he got there, they're eleven and eleven without him. And it's another one that kind of falls in the gray area because forty three games played, it's the same as Lebron. That's an abnormally small number for all NBA in a normal year. But it's not enough to persuade me to keep him off when I think he's really been the nets best player this year and Katie is the guy I expect to be their best player come playoffs. But his command of the game, his ability to tone down the icehole a little bit and remain equally dominant. They're still a huge portion of his game, still maybe the best in basketball there, but you know, integrate a little bit more into a different system to lean more playmaking heavy, where how do the pick and roll the guys at, donning up shooters, donning up low threats off the role. All of that, to me, has just been a demonstration of why he is truly an all time great offensive talent, why we can see him have years like twenty seventeen where he is that dominant playmaking scoring combo for us, and why we can see him have years like the past couple before this where he's putting up thirty six a game. He's just one of the best offensive players ever. And it's difficult again because of the game's missed, but it's not enough. And I think that just the difference in the net success with him without him out there is telling to me and something I wanted to reward him for. Yeah, and I don't know, maybe I'm unfairly holding guys games played against them. It's just it's so weird to do in a shortened season where guys have misstime due to yeah jumping immediately into the season, we don't have a full off season. It was hard to gauge for me. I don't think Beal's gravity has felt nearly nearly as much as James Harden. He's the better player, but the sixteen more games played to me mattered. He's dealing with extreme circumstances, and I feel like we have seen Beal at least more towards the start of this season. We've seen Russ kind of take back over handling the ball primarily a lot putting his stamp on games. Beal has improved a little bit as a playmaker, and sometimes the Wizards don't win when Beal puts up forty, but if he doesn't put up what he does in night, they don't have a single chance at winning. So I feel like his gravity, just based on the outcome for his team for the Wizards, has been close to what Harden has to perform similarly for the next to win in the way that the Wizards need Beal every single night, So the game's played is ultimately what made the difference between putting Harden on the second or third team. I am gonna hold it against him, though that's fair enough, and you're probably more in line with most people's thinking, like the precedent has generally been, you miss twenty something thirty games, you're not going to be first or second team for the most part. Like when Lebron missed thirty games, he was third team. I'm pretty sure in seventeen eighteen, when Steph only played fifty one games, he was third team. But this year is just so weird, and some of these guys have been so good, and the guys who they're competing with in some cases have also missed. You know, if it's eight less games, that's just not enough of a gap for me. And so I do want to reward Harden there, just because I think when they're both out there, it's not all that close. Beal is phenomenal, Beal is utterly phenomenal. Doesn't get enough credit. It's become all about Russ and Washington, even though Beal is so much better, but Harden is a lot better than both of them are. Other difference Jimmy Butler versus Paul George. I'll let you start on this one, YPG. The reason I went with PG over Jimmy is obviously a team standing there, their top three out West. It's hard because you know, do I reward the game's played came into I'm trying to just here, let me organize my thoughts here. So Jimmy first out East. The reason that I delegated him to third team. Jimmy is a still a dominant playmaker. They need him in that role. He's the best playmaking we've seen out of Jimmy before. He's a still a great defender out there on the perimeter. But I'm gonna hold the game's played against him. I'm gonna hold the lack of talent around him irrationally against Jimmy because it didn't come out to wins. Because I think that Paul is in obviously a supreme situation to Jimmy. He's got so much more help around him in having a bigger start lean on in Kauai. Granted Jimmy has BAM, Kauai is way better and much more help. They've got more shooters in this team, They've got a better They've just got so much more help around him comparatively. But to me, the jump that we've seen from Paul, he is a He's a necessary secondary playmaker. He's improved, and his shot has been falling all season long. He's a somebody they can rely on. But just the difference between him and Jimmy is that I am going to hold the standings against them and the game's missed from Jimmy Butler. But I do think that Paul has definitively way more help around him than Jimmy. Is the game's missed between them that much of a difference. Paul has played fifty three Jimmy has played fifty one, so I don't know if that's fair, but to me, it just comes down to the all around two way impact with Jimmy and the ability to be the clearcut best guy on a team that looks completely different when he is out there versus when he's not out there. Like I think that Paul is having an amazing season, and I think that the evolution we've seen from him as a playmaking, what he's doing as a shooter right now, it's all time stuff in some ways. But I just think Jimmy changes the game in every phase. The Heat are ten point six points foe hundred better with him out there. They're thirty two and nineteen when he plays, they're six and twelve when he doesn't. And we saw what their offense was without him, we saw what their defense is. They're way better on both ends. Offensively, four points four one hundred better with him out there, go from a bottom five unit without him to almost a top ten unit with him. Defensively, there's seven points four one hundred better, go from a bottom five unit without him to a top three unit with him. And the raw production is certainly impressive twenty one and a half, seven and seven. The way that he's able to be efficient is not all that conventional because it's without the three point shot. It's so much about free throws. But he does this on sixty percent true shooting, basically exactly the same as PG, slightly better I think, and defensively is just having a phenomenal season. Is just so clearly out to prove something every night. I think has to be all defense as well, and PG obviously has the tools to be a great defender, but hasn't been as committed to that end night tonight on this year as Jimmy has been. And Jimmy just is everything for this team. He's the primary ballhander he's the guy who's running pick and roll. He's the guy who's locking up the opposing team's best player. On the other end, he's scoring more efficiently, and I'm just gonna go with that guy. I mean, should be whole that Paul does have more help and doesn't have to be carry his big a load against him. I mean we've seen have we seen PG do this completely change a team like this with a Heat looked dead in the water without him, and when he's out there, they're playing like one of the four best teams out East by record. I don't know that we've seen anybody else do that. When I say anybody else, I mean Paul George. I don't mean the season. I mean back when he was in Indiana, like with some little help around him. Like if Paul George is in Miami, he's probably doing Jimmy Butler esque things and helping this team win more games. I just I think situationally this shouldn't come up. I think George has been more efficient than Jimmy. I think he may be a similar playmaking engine if the Heat if he needed to be, He hasn't been more efficient. His true shooting percentage is lower all right, Bro, Jimmy can't hit the three. He doesn't have to because he gets the line every other possession. It's some most valuable shot in basketball. It matters. The free throw is the most valuable shot in basketball, and he gets Okay, George Mikes shut out, Bro. Look, I just think Jimmy's all around impact is on a different level, and I think he's shown why he's such a special basketball player this season. He's affirmed what we saw in last year's finals. The man just makes a team so much better in so many ways, and I think he's kind of getting slept on in this I saw Koc's All NBA teams. He didn't have Jimmy at all, and I was offended and hurt by that. Okay, let's move on to third team. Now, I'll tell you who I have. I have Kyrie Bradley Beale, Paul George, Zion Williamson, and Rudy Gobert. Who do you have? I have Trey Young, James Tarden, Jimmy Butler, Jason Tatum, and Rudy Gobert. Whoa Trey Young? I did not see coming. Okay, let's start with that one. Then. Wow, we have so much more to get into with this team than we did with the first two. All right, so why Trey Young. I went with Trey when he is on the floor this it's mainly it's like the Luca effect, you know. I mean this offense. I'm not saying they can't move without him, they move so much worse. Bogie filled in really well during that stretch, and maybe that would be the counter to the offense not being fluid. Bogie was exceptional when this team needed him to be. But on the whole on this year, the Hawks offense has a offensive rating of one hundred nineteen point five. With Tray on the floor and off, they dropped by over ten points to one on nine point one. He's in the ninety nine percentile of offensive points per possession. I just think he has been more necessary than other guys where look, man, this was the Trey pick was my hardest out of this. I had to leave off Donovan, Mitchell, Kyrie or you know, Chris Paul. I even wanted to get Russell Westbrook on this list. Devin Booker, like the Guards were deeper this third team. I just felt in the situation that he was put in with m he had help he had decent shooters, but he had to be the offensive engine, creating the shots for everybody and going out there and getting his every night to put the Hawks in contention, and they are a top four team out East as it stands right now. I think it needs to be rewarded. That's interesting and it's not ludicrous. I mean, honestly, Trey was not one of my first guys off I think that he's obviously a phenomenal offensive player, a great offensive engine. It was interesting to me how able how well they were able to play without him, and how good they were in the stretch where it was Bogie running the show. But I just think Kyrie has been better on the year. I think Kyrie is having one of the greatest scoring seasons ever, putting up twenty seven, five and six on fifty forty ninety two splits, ninety first percent in isolation, eighty five percentilet of the pick and roll, having an all time scoring season for an all time offense. I just can't deny that. I think at the eye test, he just remains so jaw dropping, And yeah, I could sometimes make the game a little easier on himself. He could go more with the Trey threes and free throws approach, but he's so damn good in the mid range now that he doesn't have to He's still one of the most efficient scores in basketball on crazy volume. And I'm going to lean with that guy. But the Tray case is interesting. I didn't really think about it all that much. Yeah, I don't know for my barometer for some of these was and I guess this kind of goes against the Paul George thing. But my barometer for the third team was without them, what are they? And I don't think the Hawks are even close to being a top four team out East if Trey Young isn't healthy all season long. When immediate contradiction of what we were just talking, that's what I do. That's what I do here on nerd Sish. Okay, so your other backcourt spot was hardened. Anything else you want to say about him. I think we've touched on Harden enough. Okay, So I'll talk about Bill then here because you had him second team. It was honestly very close for me having him on, because I think we need to acknowledge the Sun's guards here, who for me, were the two toughest cuts and Book was a tougher cut than CP. I'll get into why, but this was so close for me between Bale and Booker because they do such similar things. I just think Bale did them slightly better this year. He scores at really a significantly higher volume, play makes a little bit more on slightly better efficiency. I mean, the guy's having an amazing season thirty one point four points per game on forty nine thirty five eighty nine splits, and has just been everything for this Wizard's team. They're thirty one and twenty eight when he plays, they're one in ten when he doesn't. Contrast that to games without Russ when they do have Bial, they're four and three. Their offense is eleven points per one hundred better. With him, It's like going from the worst offense in the league to a top ten unit. And I just think he has proven these last two years that he can take any group, and I mean any, because there is still not significant offensive talent on this Wizard's team and make them a really good offense because of his versatility. He's a great cutter, he's great out of the pick and roll isolation. He's dominant, he shoots forty percent off the catch, from deep. He is just one of the most special scores of the basketball we've seen in a while, who I think, in a different situation will get more credit as he deserves. But it was close between him and Book because it's weird not having a representative from the second best team in basketball by record when their strength is so driven by the backcourt that is the best in basketball. And it was tough for me choosing between dealing Book, as I said, but it wasn't all that tough between Book and CP, and I guess here is where I'll do my little cps field because the Sun's offense is nine points per one hundred better with Book on the floor than off it a massive, massive gap. It's point seven points better with CP on it than off it, basically insignificant. They play as well offensively with him out there or without him, And then you look and say so as impact is defensive and people can talk about his leadership there. I don't think he's a bad defender, but out of all three hundred and two players to defend five shots a game and play at least thirty five games, that same bar that I said earlier, CP has the second worst field goal differential. People shoot fifty two percent when he's their primary defender at the guard spot. So if you're gonna say that's the difference maker, I'm going to disagree. And Book has really competed on the year, and I just think he has the luxury of sometimes not having to really produce as that scoring force. He has eleven games with less than ten points this year, and the Suns are eight and three. In those games, they still win. And what's crazy is logan in those eleven games, Book has only averaged twenty and a half points per game, well below his average, and they still win because they are the ultimate team with one of the best cast of role players, a phenomenal team defense, a great coach, all these things that make them what they are. Yes, CPS command of the game is special. Yes, he's one of the most terrifying light game shotmakers in basketball because of what he can do out of the mid range. But I just think what a guy like Beale has done this year carrying a team to be legitimately above average when he's on the floor compared to what they've been without him. Again one and ten, while you're scoring at all time volume more efficiently. I just got to reward that cut, beautiful take. Carson Well said thank you. So I want to ask them, we know you don't want him. You don't think you should be on there. I don't think you should. Will the media cave caven give Chris Paul an all NBA nod? And I wouldn't say that it's caving because I think that it kind of depends on what you value. I guess like CPS command of the game is special, no question about that, and he does what he does really well. I just think he gets too much credit. I think that people ignore how much everybody around him has gotten better, how much he's able to just fade sometimes, whereas book doesn't fade. I mean, book has to be there always as that scoring presence. Team's key in on stopping Devin Booker. They don't key on stopping Chris Paul. I think it's kind of plain to see when you watch who gets doubled at the elbow, who gets doubled sometimes when he's just sizing a guy up, it's not Chris Paul, it's Devin Booker. And that's the gravity, that's the offensive value that I don't think he gets enough credit for. And that I think CP gets too much credit for. But the other day, I don't have either of them here, so kind of beating a dead horse there, Let's move to the front court. So our difference here was you had PG second team, I have him third team. I don't think I need to say all that much. He's been a great player on a great team, a just phenomenal all around offense. He's a lead off the catch, having a great shooting season, seventy seventh percentile out of the pick and roll, impactful defenders. Still, he has to be here. And then you had Tatum, you had Jimmy, I had Zion and Zion Tatum was my toughest decision out of all of these. I really think it was the toughest one alongside deal in book, Why did you go Tatum? And then I'll say why I went Zion. I went with Jason because he's been the sole constant on a wildly inconsistent, underperforming, injured Boston Celtics squad that, you know, I think with Audam Carson completely whiffs on this playoff all together. You know, And if you have not watched Jason, the Jason Tatum video another excellent Carson brebber production. You know, he makes these headscratching decisions. Sometimes he makes life difficult for himself a lot, but it doesn't change the fact that this kid is an all time special scoring talent. And I think that was the big difference for me, Carson, I want I went with the guy who's skill set I like a little more, and I like Tatums a little more. He can get his buckets in more difficult situations, and I think Zion can. He may be better on the interior. Tatum gets buckets anywhere and can create for himself like no other. Yeah, this was crazy close because their raw offensive output is basically the same. Zion scores a little bit more, Tatum play makes a little bit more. Their teams have both outscored opponents by about two points per one hundred when they're on the floor and been about five points per one hundred better with their guy on the floor than off it. And it's tough, man, It's really really tough, because I do prefer Tatum's skill set aesthetically, but right now I don't think I can say I preferred as ours effectiveness because the Zion we have seen post All Star Game is a different monster. This is an insane basketball player twenty nine seven and four on sixty five percent try shooting. And I still wish the defense would improve. I still wish his awareness and effort consistently would improve. There his latter of mobility. But since All Star he's holding people five percent below their normal field goal percentage when he's the primary defender. Now, keep in mind, there's so much more to defense than just one on one performance, and even within this stat sometimes it's just about how people shoot when you're the primary defender. Like, there's a bunch of variables. This is why you don't judge defense off of any one number. But that's improvement, man, that's big improvement, that stuff that we didn't see previously. And the two way impact still does go Tatum's way. The playmaking is still more impressive from Tatum, Like I think that he runs pick and roll at a higher level as far as the reads that he's capable of making. But that's the thing Tatum has to do more right. The game is harder for him. The game is not hard for Zion, and I think when you can be eightieth percentile cutter and a pick and roll ball handler like him. When you can be one of the most explosive off ball threats because of that love catching ability and then unstoppable with the ball in your hands, facilitating out of the pick and roll, when you can swallow up your own missus. I just don't know how to turn that down at this point. I think that it's one of the most efficient volume scoring seasons we've ever seen. Again, twenty nine points per game post All Star on sixty five percent true shooting, twenty seven a game on sixty five percent try shooting. On the year as a whole, it's very very close, very close, indeed. But when their impact on winning has basically been the same statistically, I'm gonna go with the guy who I just think is more unstoppable, and that's Zion Williamson right now. Yeah, Zion was the first forward off for me. It was brutal, it was crippling. But let me ask you this, then, So did the team success factor into it at all for you? Well? As I said, when they've been on the floor, they've had very similar differentials, and the gap between when they're on versus off the floor has been very similar. So I don't think there's a significant advantage there just because I mean, the Celtics are so clearly so much better, like they should be, their rosters so much better. And then so in that, did you consider Katie or a guy like Julius Randall at all? I very much consider Julius Randall, and I do want to acknowledge him, but there were just a couple of things for me. First office, kind of just like I said earlier, the tiebreaker of who do I think is the better player? I think a lot of it with Randall is situational as far as the credit that he gets, and yeah, he's done a phenomenal job. I don't want to take that away. But the Knicks offense statistically has been identically efficient with or without him this year, and that's the number twenty three offense in basketball. It's not a good team offense, and you can't pin that on him because he doesn't have good offensive players around him. But he's been basically average efficiency as a scorer, and you can argue the two way impact is there because he does play hard on defense as well, but I think Peg and Tatum have that too, So I'm just gonna lean with the guys who I think are better and I think if we saw a number of these guys in Randall's situation, they could have more impressive output. It's you know, it's always a given take with these guys, because like Randall's ability to collapse defenses I think is more significant than certainly what a Jason Tatum can do. But I also think Tatum's high end scoring skill is certainly more valuable than what Randall has. So it's tough. I think Randall's a sturdy, honorable mention, but he's my second guy off after Tatum. Katie would have been here, but it's not enough games played to me. When you're under half again, it's another arbitrary line in the sand. It's weird, but that's where I had to drive it. I thought about having him though, but I decided it's just not enough games. Okay, So at the center spot, I had Gobert remind me, who do you have there? I have Gobert as well. Okay, I know you love Bam so much. Any consideration of Bam here, yeah, I mean I thought about it, especially with his improvement this season. Just pure jump shooting. BAM's a genuine face up threat when he gets the rock and he's improved on that in general. But honestly, man, I still might I mean this honestly, I still might might take Rudy Gobert on the offensive end comparatively too Bam. And I don't mean is a I mean just as an interior force man. Gobert, like people crap on him, like he is an Andre Drummond type in the paint Dude. Gobert's got like decently developed post moves. He can roll off of guys. He's strong, he's a really good screener, and he's a decent He's a decent lob threat. Like I feel like people, he's not a great offensive player. The reason he is here is because he's the best defensive player on the planet. But I think people want to rate Rudy Gobert's offensive impact sometime. But the gap for me between what they bring to a team defense is a little too a little too much. You know, Gobert's got longer arms and he is more of a just imposing rim protector comparatively to Bam. Yeah, it's about the defensive end. I think that the gap is really large even between him and Bam as far as regular season dominance, and you see that in Gobert's team impact, there's seventeen and a half points per one hundred better with him out there. That's sane and offensively, his role is really simple, but he does it really well. He's eighty fourth percentile as a role man. He's the most efficient volume scoring basketball and he makes your team in elite defense. That's crazy, that's unaniable impact. I wanted to try to talk myself into Bam because I think he's I think he's a decent amount better offensively. I just think as great as Bam is defensively, Gobert is still better on that end by an even wider margin. Like he's just that all time special there, which leads us into all defense. But first, I'll give you a chance to shout out any other guys he considered for all NBA. Are there any other honorable mentions who are going to keep you up at night that you didn't give them the nod? Yeah, So I want to ask you two who like your first few guys off were my definitively first guy off was Donovan Mitchell. I just thought one seed in the last. Gobert gets his on the defensive end, but Mitchell has been obviously just as imperative offensively, he was my toughest cut followed by Kyrie and in D book. Interesting, So you would take Donovan Mitchell over Book, Yeah, I would. And these are the questions that we have to answer on NERD sish that's that's okay. We didn't actually because yeah, okay, interesting. I'm trying to dance around it. Yeah. Man, that's tough. Um. But yeah, I think I think I'm still going Donovan just because of the one seed factor. Interesting, I just prefer book. I think that he's more malleable. I think it is off ball value is crazy, not just the pure shooting, because I think that that leans Mitchell as far as beyond the arc, but again, curling off screens in the mid range as a cutter, I just think he's so good at that stuff. He's a little more efficient playmaking pretty much a wash defense. I slightly lean Booker. Actually, I think that he's really competitive there at this point. It's close, but I think that he just is a little more essential to his team. And I think that that's partly reflected by how good the Jazz have been without Mitchell on the year. I mean, they're better with him off the floor than on it. They're just that great of all around team. And when the Suns don't have Books scoring at a high volume, sometimes they struggle. Sometimes they can compensate, as I touched on earlier, because they're that good of a team. But I think they need him more. My first guys off were easily Book, and then CP at the guard spot, Tatum and then Randall in the front court, and then Bam at the center spot. Let's get into all defense now because we're gonna have some overlap from some of the guys that we were just talking about. I'll go my first team first. I have Ben Simmons, Jimmy Butler, Draymond, Greem Bana, Bam out of Baio, and Rudy Gobert. Who do you have? Yeah? See, dude, I did not know what to do with these weird positioning rules. So I've got Ben Simmons, Jimmy Butler, Jannis Draymond, and then Rudy Gobert. Yeah. So that's the thing, right. Bam isn't a center. Bam is not a forward. Bam is a center, but he's eligible at forward, and for me, I was able to say, Okay, he's close enough. I don't know, Like, I can't see Joe all Embid as a forward in any sense. Can I say? Bam is not really? But he's close enough. Oh you know what, And I say that, No, I put Bam as a forward on my second team because I end up also putting Clint Cappela on there, because I was like, oh, Capella is not a natural Ford, neither is Bam. I don't I don't get it, but I also think maybe you know that screw it. I am gonna if I'm choosing bammer Yannis and I'm gonna put him in a forward. Ultimately, I'll go Bam on the first team, bro, because I genuinely believe he's I hate these rules. I don't get them. Yeah, they're so stupid, dude, so stupid. Like, when you're talking about defense, rim protection is so much more valuable. You should be able to have five centers here if you want to. You should be able to have ten centers if you want to. I wouldn't recommend it, but you should be able to. So, okay, does that mean that we end up having the same team, Yeah, we do, indeed. Okay, So I guess let's talk about the Heat guys, because we already talked about Simmons, Draymond, and Gobet for the DePoy conversation. For Jimmy, it's just what I said earlier. The Heats defense goes from bottom five with him the top three with him. The Olds people two and a half percent below their average field goal percentage from he's the primary defender, league leading two point one steals per game. He's just been on a mission. He's long, he's versatile, he's crazy competitive, he's crazy tough, got great hands, everything you would want in a perimeter defender when he's locked in, and he's been locked in for this entire year. Yeah, and they've needed it. As for Bam, we touched on it earlier and he's a ninety three percent tiland defensive against pick and roll ball handlers. They shoot as you touched on, He's not an elite rim protector when it comes to straight up like a Gobaar, like a Miles Turner, guys only shoot nearly five percent worse than their average inside six feet on BAM, but they also shoot three point two percent worse on three pointers when they're guarded by Bam as well. Because of that. At malleability on defense, that switch ability. He is just so versatile, and that's why, that's why he's got to be here. You said it perfectly. He holds people only four and a half percent below their average at the rim. That's a good mark, but it's not going to compare to most all defense big man. But he holds them four percent ble other average across the board. And you mentioned ninety percentile guarding pick and roll ball handlers, eighty fourth percentile guarding role men like it. Just it's an insane amount of flexibility to where you cannot exploit a single weakness with him. Moves his feet better on the perimeter than any big man I've ever seen, and that's crazy special. So I think he has to be there as a first team guy if you are able to acknowledge the fact that you know he's not really a forward, but you can put him at forward just because these rules suck. Second team This was tough, Logan. There's one spot here that I don't feel as great about, and I had to do some more position manipulation here. Nothing crazy, just a little bit of manipulation. But I have Drew Holliday, lou Dort Matisse thible Yannis, and Clint Capella. Here, who do you have? Yeah, it was it was hard with these position rules. I went lou Dort, Kawai, Matisse thible Yannis, and then Clint Cappella. Okay, so Kawai's eligible at guard as well. I take it that. Yeah, that's what I did. Okay, So I guess let's just go down the list here, because we haven't talked about any of these guys defensively all that much. So I'll start with Holiday because I think that a lot of the times when you ask NBA players around the league who's the best perimeter defender or who's the best defensive guard in basketball, they'll say Drew Holiday. I think that there's a lot of good reasons for that, but I also think that this is one of the weaker defensive seasons he's had. Like he's still second team All Defense, he's still great there, but if you compare it to his last four years, his team's defense each of those years was at least four point three points per one hundred or better with him out there every year. That's the margin between him on versus off the floor. Significant This year it's less than two points per one hundred. You cut that by half and a little bit more. And it's also by far the highest field group percentage he's allowed as a primary defender in that five years span. And he still Drew holiday unbelievable defender, six seven wingspan, great hands, high IQ, unbelievable job of consistently getting and staying in position. He's tough, he's smart. He's just a prototypical great defensive guard. Doesn't have the versatility I will say of a Jimmy or As Simmons, and I think that that matters, and I think that that's also part of the reason why I went with those guys' first team. But pound for pound, man is just a dog and a great defender. Let's talk about lou Dort, because he was the guy I probably felt most sketchy about. But you have him here. Why don't you make the case for Lou Well. I want to touch on Drew for a second. I mean, did any of the advanced numbers, Did any of them turn you off to putting Drew on this team? Not completely, because I just think there comes a point where with the eye test Withdrew, he's so impressive, and like again, it's a down season for him. I think a down season for him is still all defense. I just think it's second team, not first team. That's kind of where I came down on it. At you. It was close. I ended up going with Jannis from the Bucks, just because I do feel like consistent, you have a defensive rating that high for a team, somebody needs to be rewarded. I did go with lou Dort as well, though we all know the intense effort that Loue gives. He's he's a dog man, he works, he's every possession. But the big thing for me in Oklahoma City was, you know, obviously didn't translate to winning, but when he was on the floor, it was a league average defense. Without lou Dort on the floor of this season, the thunderhead and defensive rating of nearly one hundred and twenty three. With him on the floor, they had a defensive rating of one thirteen point six. I mean, it's a game changing impact, and I mean they were twenty third in defensive rating. The one twenty three mark is absolutely atrocious. A guy shoot nearly three percent words on three point attempts when guarded by lou and they shoot three percent overall from the field, he's a dog. He works and I don't know man the way he he's just smart too, forces guys the sidelines, knows how to position himself and he's a oh, I mean, he's like a meatball dude, just thick. He's lose, lose, versatile, and he's he's strong man. It's he's just a different type of guard man. You don't see guys that stocky, but he's he's a worker and I think despite maybe it not translating the team success on the entire level, he deserves to be rewarded. Yeah, I'd like to have maybe an mbiad or a pearl here, but I can't really do that. I wish I could maybe have a d in the front court, but he hasn't played enough. So I'll give it to Dort because we're talking about insane effort as you mentioned, six nine wingspan, strong, crazy active feet in hands, and it's just incredible how much he can care in a situation where most guys wouldn't care and really give that game changing effort as you talked about, that dude when he's in a winning situation again, is going to have an impact in some big spots as we saw last year. He's smart, and he's got all the tools, and he's gonna play insanely hard and that makes for a great defender. So maybe he's not one of the ten best defenders in basketball in my opinion, but he's certainly good enough to where I can you know, I'm not gonna lose sleep over having lou Dort here because obviously I chose to. Let's talk now about Thieble, who I have in my front court. It's a little bit of flexing. I mean, really he's for the most part, but you know what, I'm a bad Why I don't play by the rules? You have him as well? Why don't you make the case from atise I think I think Teas has been the most underrepresentive player when you know people are discussing the seventy six ers defense. I said that last week. He's people know he's a good defender, but he just doesn't give enough credit. Man. He's great getting into passing, Lane's great picking guy's attempts up. But it's the it's the advanced numbers that really sell you on They shoot nearly eight percent worse on field goal attempts when guarded by Matis that is the best in the NBA on decent volume, players shoot six point one percent worse on three point attempts when guarded by Tiase. That's the eleventh best mark in the NBA. And it just you could notice it. Man, he made Tease has got highlights on highlights on defense, and they had a one oh eight defensive rating when he was on the floor. Maybe suggesting that he didn't have an impact on team defense, I don't care, man, individually, you could notice at each time out, especially with the it's gonna be a we're gonna be a dead horse with this phrase. Teas also is one of those high energy, high effort guys. You see it every night. Yeah, I don't think you can say that he didn't have an impact on d defense. It's just the Sixers have such great defensive personnel that I mean, you're talking about a rotation that is going to involve two out of three of Ben Simmons, Joel Embid and Matisse Thiable basically at all times, those are three all defense caliber guys. I mean you touched on all the numbers. I think that minute per minute, he is a first team All defense guy. We're talking about insane length, six to eleven wingspan, quick hands, great shop blocking in things. Koc tweeted today about how many more jump shots Thiable has blocked than anybody else. I think he's at fifty six and second is at thirty seven or something. He just closes in on you so quickly, and those arms are freaky. The playmaking is there, over one block a game, one point six deals per game in twenty minutes. And he's just a clamper, dude, an absolute clamper. And when he can hit thirty seven percent of his threes, man, he's gonna be a great, great player in this league. And I really hope that day does come. But yeah, he is phenomenal and definitely closer to being on my first team than being off of my team entirely. So now we both have Jannis and Capella here, if I'm not mistaken, I'll talk about Jannis briefly. Holds opposing players five percent below their average field goal percentage, not nearly as good as last year, but still really good. He's an elite help side rim protector, holds people twelve percent below their average field goal percentage around the rim, easily defensive playmaker. Overall one point two steals per game one point two blocks per game, can be killer in that rover role, jumping passing lanes or coming over to block shots, and then also can claint guys just guarding one on one. Traditionally, he's a valuable defensive weapon who maybe hasn't been as good as he was there last year, but still has some of the most special traits in the league to play defense and is really really good at it. And then Capella I already touched on with just his immense impact on this team and how good he's been protecting the rim. Anything you want to add about either of those guys, I think you summed up Janni's pretty perfectly. I think the big sell is the helpside rim protection. He's elite net role also chasing guys down, and yeah, in that free safety on fast breaks when he is that guy back, he's scary to deal with. And yeah, as for Capella, as you already touched on the Hawks or an elite team defense when Capello's on the floor, and I don't know, you can't say that about a lot of other guys. I want to ask you, this, was it close at all with a guy like Miles Turner, Like, did you consider putting him over a guy like Cappello? We're just saying screw the positions. Well, I wish that I could have, because then I would have had Turner on and I would have booted lou Dort And same as I said with Purtle. I mean, I think that there's so many great defensive centers in basketball right now. When it comes down to Turner, I just think his impact on all around team defense isn't quite the same as Capella's. I mean it's close. He is a phenomenal to turn around the rim as well. And I also think that sometimes the games played can be a tiebreaker, and Turner has been out a decent amount this year. He's gonna end up missing like a third of their games. And Capella has been so reliable and so important that I did want to reward that here. So then I had a few other guys that I left off. I want to ask your opinion. I know you mentioned your big Faku guy. Did you consider him or Fred van Vleet at all for either of these teams? You know, I really wanted to put Faku on there, but I decided that if you're gonna put a guy who's played like twenty minutes a game. It has to be a thiable kind of just absolute freak. You know, if he was playing starter minutes, you could argue he's the best perimeter defender in basketball. And I don't think that focus at that level. But yes, that man is great, and let's just say we'll be talking about him in a second. Fred van Vleet, Yeah, I think that he's always kind of an honorable mention here. I just don't think he has the tools that lu does. Physically, I don't think he gives the effort play to play, and so I would say I was closer to putting Faku on, but I don't think I would have felt very good about putting Faca on. He's an honorable mention though, no doubt did you consider a D or Lebron at all? A D if he had been healthy more would have been on my list, no doubt about that. I think when he's healthy, he's just pencil him in immediately for all defense and Lebron no, I mean a great defensive season for him, but there's too many good defensive guys in the front court, and I just don't think I could have rewarded him over a guy like Ady if he was healthy, or you know, over a guy like Janis or Thible or any of the centers. I wish I could pretend we're forwards or you know, an mbid who's eligible there, but I just can't do it because I'd feel like a clown putting him at forward. So Lebron really good defensive season, not good enough to be all defense in my opinion. Anyone else who want to shout out there before we move on to are all rookie teams? No, I'm let's roll, okay, so I'll read out my first team. I think there's three guys we want to discuss it all. I have Aunt LaMelo and Haliburton top three rookie of the year guys, and then I have two non traditional rookies. I have twenty five year old Jashn Tate and I have thirty year old Facundo Compazzo. Who do you have fac who counts as a rookie? Yeah? He does. Well, I might have to I might have to make a last second audible here. Um I've got I've got LaMelo and Haliburton and Jayshawn Tate as well. Um I didn't even realize that what are what are focus numbers? All right? So I'll give you the Faku pitch, because let's be honest, it doesn't lie with the numbers. I don't think that that encapsulates how good he really is because putting up six points per game, three and a half assists per game on thirty six percent from three, but he's just meaningfully contributed and at times been the third or fourth best healthy guy for a team that remains elite, and none of the guys on my second team could do that right now. He's just better, I think than guys like Sadiq bay Emmanual Quickly who I considered, who have more tantalizing skill sets long term, no question, and if they're not better than Faku, I would be disappointed for them because Fak, who's thirty, he's a finished product. He's not getting better from here, and I think of that shows in how he plays. He just is a vet and the thirty eight percent I think he shoots from the field is not really reflective of his offensive efficiency. He's basically average efficiency because all of his shots are three threes. But then his value offensively is the playmaking the secondary playmaking, the smart passes in transition, the movement off ball is good with him as well. And then defensively, he is a hound, holds people. The forty three percent shooting when he's a primary defender, averages one point two steals per game, and just doesn't stop working. So I don't think it lies with the numbers. He just does a bunch of little stuff, makes good decisions as a passer, knocks down his open shots, and it's just a good basketball player on a team that really needs him to help win games. And he was able to step up and do that. And I don't think other guys could have in the same way because they're, you know, a decade younger, and that's unfair to expect that of them. But when Faco counsels a rookie, I think he's born one of the five best in basketball this year. You know what did I persuade you? Let's do it? I mean originally I kind of went. I went positionally, so I ended up having a five one year. But if the choices between James Wiseman and Faku, like that's that's not closed on winning. Also, I mean, why is he playing thirty nine games this season? Head to head like that matters. Yeah, I should have explained also to our listeners that there are no position rules with all rookie so we are finally liberated. We could just pick the guys who we think are most deserving, which is very nice. So you got Faku flexed in there. Now, let's talk about Jay Sean nerds favorite. We've talked about him more than I'm sure anybody else in the country, but let's give a brief rundown logan if you want to take it first. I mean, he's one of many guys who were a part of their G League system that have really shined this season. I'm so glad that he's had a volume of opportunity on this bad team to stand out. He is a deadly He's a I won't say deadly. He's a good three point shooter from time to time and catching shoots, but he's better in the lane. He's a really hard, gritty defendery works and then offensively, I mean, he's got decent tools playmaking, he's athletic, but I really like him as a defensive prospect more than anything else. And if he is consistently knocking his shots down and years to come. He is just a valuable asset to have off the bench. Yeah, one of my favorite players. Just a guy who does it all. Puts up eleven five and a half and two and a half this year on fifty percent shooting, can handle out of the pick and roll, make good decisions there. We've seen point Jay sean really good cutter eightieth percentile there, and he thrives in that role. Can occasionally knock down a shot. The three point shot isn't where you'd want it to be, but it's fine. It's competent, can fight on the glass, averages two offensive boards a game. You mentioned, the defense is really high level. Just a really good all around basketball player, and the Rockets are nine points per one hundred better with him out there because of it. He just impacts winning in all of its phases. And Yeah, him and Fok, who are basically taking pds when it comes to all rookie teams, all right, because they're twenty five and thirty. These are full grown men who are fully developed for the most part. Jajan might slove a little bit to go Fok who doesn't, but that doesn't mean that they haven't been two of the five best rookies this year because I think that they have and it's weird, but I think it's true. Let's move on a second team now, So I have Sadiq Bay, Emmanuel Quickly, Isaiah Stewart, Desmond Bain, and Patrick Williams. Who do you have? Okay, we did forer on one. I have Emmanuel Quickly, Desmond Baine, Patrick william Sadique Bay, and Kenyan Martin Junior. Okay, interesting, I should have known that you would get kJ Martin in there. All right, let's start from the top of the names I have in front of me here, Sadique Bay. I think it's a very simple case. Twelve points per game on thirty nine percent shooting from three. It's the greatest volume three point shooting season of any rookie ever. He's also very competent on the defensive end. Doesn't have all that much wiggle in his game creation for himself, crazy playmaking anything like that. But definitely a diamond in the rough in this drafts and a guy who excells it what he does well, and certainly an All Ricky caliber player. I think he'll probably be first team because I don't think other people are gonna have Faku first team. But he's a really really good rookie. I mean he's a he's a knockdown shooter and that's about all you can ask for. Um. Yeah, if a rookie's hitting his threees, give him some minutes. And like you said, it is the best that we've ever seen from a guy like and there's there's not a whole lot else to like about his game. He doesn't do anything else. But if you're hitting your catch and shoot attempts at near forty percent clip over thirty eight percent on the year, yeah, he's I think it's a no brainer. If a rookie shooting as well, real prototypical three and D, that's gonna be his role. And so then every team needs all Right, I'll let you give the quick pitch on Quickly because obviously he's your guy. Go check out Logan's video on IQ if you're Jones and for some of that. But why does quickly have to be here? I mean slightly inefficient, but that's just kind of how it's gonna go when you're a guy that you can't get to the rack. For the efficiency that he has put up, it's impressive because he puts up a lot of threes, catching shoot attempts or created by himself off of the pick and roll, but he does have a reliable shot. That floater is absolutely filthy. He gets it up at any moment, putting up nearly twelve points per game two boards to assist. Outside of what he does, which is reliable catching, shooting, a little bit of stuff off the dribble, and that floater, he doesn't really bring a whole lot to a team. He's decent on effort on defense, but it's he's a guy who can fill it up quickly off the bench, and there weren't a whole lot of guys who could. Yeah, there weren't a whole lot of guys who could just take the ball by themselves in their hands off of a screen and score like he can out of the pick and roll. Yep, no doubt. And when he figures out how to get all the way downhill, if he does where he doesn't have to rely on that floater as much. Guy, he's going to be a great offensive player. But he's still able to score an average efficiency because from deep Nicks had been way better with him out there on the year. Just clearly, a talented kid has a good feel for the game, has got really nice touch, can shoot the hell out of the ball, and yeah, a really good player right out of the gate. I'll touch on Okay, so Isaiah Stewarts are one difference, so we'll touch on that last. Desmond Baine. I think, very straightforward case. Just an incredible shooter of the basketball, smart, all around good basketball player. Got some secondary playmaking. It's gonna give you effort defensively, but forty four percent from deep nine a game kind of guy that you can immediately plug and play and can be good on a good team. And I think that that kind of guy just has to be here. Patrick Williams is the last guy we agree on. He was actually my last guy on here. I wanted to have another friend of mine who unfortunately had to cut. But why don't you make the case for Patrick because I know you were talking about him in that Rookie of the Year debate earlier as well. Yeah, I mean, Williams was head scratching as a decision draft date, but I've been proven wrong, and I think the big appeal of a guy like him over quickly or Baine. Williams is a much better and already a pretty proficient creator of his own shot off the dribble. It's these guys don't have it. Williams does. Man, he's really good in the mid range. He's got a decently developed post game already. He's a good catching shooter and three point shooter in general. He just he's got a really solid offensive game right now, where I didn't think he was far along, and he is the tools and the size, the athleticism to become a really a beast. On the defensive end, he's a decent defender right now, but with how far along and polished his offensive game was, I thought he was pretty raw in the draft. He's got one of the more polished offensive games as a rookie this season. Yeah, and that's really the reason that I had him over Jaden McDaniels, who was the guy I really wanted to get on my team because I think he's gonna be a monster defensively. McDaniels is so far along as it helps ide rim protector averages a block of game so long fluid mobile offensively has some moments where the handle and the shot creation come together and you just think that kid is really good. But it's not consistently enough and Patrick Williams has started every game when he's been healthy, which has been basically the entire year for a team that is really trying to win now, and that matters. I got to reward that, and you mentioned it. His ability to get that mid range shot is something Jayden doesn't have, something Desmond Baye doesn't have, something Sadiq bay doesn't have, Like it's really distinctive. He gets to his spots and you put up nine a game on forty eight percent from the field thirty eight and a half percent from three. You compete hard, and again you're actually important to a team that's trying to win now. I think you deserve to be rewarded for that. We differ in our last spot. I have Isaiah Stewart. You have Kenney Martin Jr. I'll go first on Isaiah because I don't feel as strongly about him as you do about kJ who was one of my honorable mentions as well. But Sears has been really good this year. We've talked about him before, so I'll go quickly. But eight and seven on fifty five percent from the field thirty three percent from three has always been that really imposing interior force gobbling upboards as that roleman can throw it down in there. But he's starting to space the floor. He's showing his hot stretching out to the three point line a little bit more, putting the ball on the floor a little bit more. The touch, the strength, it's all there. It's all coming together, and I just think he's a really good basketball player. Why do you have kJ Martin here? Maybe it's a little recency bias, because I mean, on this season his numbers are okay, nine points, five boards, one assist on fifty three forty seventy two shooting splits. KMJ just needs last ten games has been amazing, nearly eighteen points per game on fifty six forty nine sixty four shooting splits with seven boards a night. This kid, he is going to be a really dominant just lob threat for whatever team he's with because of his bounce. He's a really good help side rim protector. Like even though he's undersized, it doesn't really concern me about this kid now because I think he's going to bounce just equalizes anything. You know, he's undersized for the fourth spot with his athletic ability, I don't really think it matters and then I don't know, man recently, dude, just with the ball in his hands, he's really good at getting downhill. And I think if if he continues to progress, obviously this doesn't effect this year. If he continues to progress, his kid can be a really good second option on a either on a bench or on a on a unit. He's gonna be a good second option on offense. He's got the tools to it. And if he's hitting his three point or at a decent clip, he's a valuable asset to have out there. Over Isaiah, I mean, I think both have had a comparable impact on winning thus far. Not much, but yeah, I don't know. Kmj's just been I'd like Kmj's skill and deeper bag more. Isaiah is kind of a more trench working guy than him. But it was really close between these two guys. I just like kmj's kind of more skilled game than Isaiah's. Very fair, very fair, And maybe I should have gone with KMJ because he pops right now, man, And when you watch the Rockets play, he is the standout guy, no question, super impressive athletically, defensively, he's gonna have an impact. You already see the shop locking. But when he really starts raining down threes, that's gonna be a great NBA player. And so no hard feelings on that one. Some honorable mentions for me, I mean, it's really interesting how much this draft is about depth, because I had three top ten picks in my all rookie spots, and you know, you don't necessarily expect that. I do have Killy and Hayes as an honorable mention. Hasn't played nearly enough, hasn't scored the ball nearly well enough, but I love the kids passing. I'll throw a tale Maladon in there, just because he was forced to step into a big role immediately, and I thought he fared well enough. You saw the playmaking and some of the shooting from him. I think that Peyton Pritchard guy who again was put into a spot where he had to play big minutes and did well enough. Xavier Tillman, God, I love that floater. But Cole Anthony was probably the second toughest guy off after KMJ for me, just because you know, he's had to put up some legitimate numbers, he had to play big moments, and we've seen the expectation of him to both score and playmake just hasn't been efficient enough, hasn't been consistent enough for me, But definitely an honorable mention. Actually, Jay McDaniel is my toughest guy off, but then Kenyon and then Cole Anthony. Anybody else do you want to shout out? I did like Wiseman in the limited action that we did see him play in. Granted again right now, not really a winning formula, but he showed flash is not good enough to get on the team. Isaac Acquoro, I don't know if you mentioned, I mean Okoro had his moments obviously exploding for his big game. You touched on it a few weeks ago, how polarizing he is as a player. I think my toughest cut was Cole Anthony. Though I mean twelve points per game and four assist It may not seem overwhelmingly impressive, especially when he wasn't as efficient as some of the other guys under forty percent, under thirty three percent from deep, but to put up twelve points per game as a rookie, when you were just told to go out there and show me what you got, it was pretty impressive from col and I think he's got big things in his future. Yeah, that's what's so interesting about this class is so many of the guys here are just pro ready, like a Sadique bay At Desmond Bane, older guys who have that skill set to contribute immediately, or literally guys who are non traditional rookies like a Jason tator a Faku. Doesn't mean that o'kora is not going to be better than these guys or whoever, but they just didn't have the better season because they weren't as pro ready. Yeah, I mean, but there is a wealth of talent in this class. R J Hampton, Malachi Flynn there, Nico Mannion. Maybe if you're a guy hires Maxie Tyres Maxie for sure. A lot of guys came along as this season progressed. There's a lot of talent here and it's gonna be fun to watch it all develop. Well, that will do it for us here today, two hours of award all NBA, All Defense, all rookie talk a marathon for us here at Nerds. But it was a lot of fun. We hope that you've enjoyed listening. If you have. The good news is we got plenty more content like it. We do A couple of shows a week on the NBA, and of course we are in the heat of the season right now. We're getting to the really good stuff playing coming up in just a few days, so we'll do another couple of pods preview in the while wrapping up the end of the season preview on the play and then as we get an actual playoffs stuff, and then throughout the playoffs, obviously we'll be very active. If you're looking for our YouTube content, we do a bunch of video breakdowns there. I did one pretty recently on the four major challenges remaining for the Lakers that you can go ahead and check out. You can follow us on Twitter at nerd Underscores Session on Instagram at nerd says just to keep in keep plugged into what we're doing there, and we do a lot of video content, graphic content, all that good stuff. And with that, as always, i've been Carson Brabber, I've been Logan Camden and this was NERD Session