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Speaker 1: Good day, sweet world, and welcome to another No Dunks podcast. It's Saturday, October 3rd. I'm J.E. Skeets, here in the yard where the boys play. Shouts to everybody joining me live on YouTube or listening later on Apple or Spotify. Do all the things I always ask you to do. Like, comment, sub, share, and five-star ratings and reviews. That's all we ask here at No Dunks. Today's weekend podcast, it's all about most improved players. It is 100% inspired by one of my favorite NBA writers. It's a guy I mention all the time on our podcast. That is Tom Ziller. Affectionately, I refer to him as Ghostface Ziller. Ziller writes by far and away the best NBA newsletter on the internet. It's not even close. There's a lot of good ones, but Ziller's number one in my books. It's called Good Morning, It's Basketball. I will link to it in the show notes. You should subscribe. It is the best way to keep up with the league. All you need is good morning, it's basketball and no dunks. And I think you're set. But yeah, make sure you go at least check out Ziller's work and you should subscribe and support him and his great work. Anyway, Ziller recently wrote a column where he picks most improved player for every team in And you know, I absolutely love this sicko stuff. So we're going to go through each team here today. We're going to talk through the pros and cons of Ziller's selections. And then I'm going to make my own pick when or if I have a different option. So to start off here, Ziller notes in his article, and he wrote this at the end of September, quote, the NBA's most improved player award is a tricky one to nail down because the criteria is so nebulous. End quote. I think there is some truth to that, but it's a fun award to really debate. Now, our last 10 winners in reverse order are Nikhil Alexander-Walker, Dyson Daniels, Tyrese Maxey, Lowry Markkinen, Ja Morant, Julius Randall, Brandon Ingram, Pascal Siakam, Victor Oladipo, and the Greek freak himself, Giannis. So, Is there a pattern there? What's the pattern? Seven of those 10 guys, they made their first all-star team in their MIP award year, right? The only ones that didn't make an all-star team in the year they won most improved over the last 10 years were Siakam, which I had to like triple check, but he made it the following year, his first all-star team, but MIP, he didn't make it. And then the last two winners on the Hawks, caca, caca, double caca for Daniels and Alexander Walker. But seven of the 10 guys, they leveled up and they got the attention and their teams were probably pretty good. If you're making an all-star team, you had the numbers, all that stuff. So that's the pattern here. Basically, a lot of those names are like star level talents. So that's our baseline here when we go through every team. and we try and make a pick for a most improved candidate. Again, this is real sicko shit here. So let's move, because we've got 30 teams to do. I will start every team with Ziller's pick, his explanation, and then again, tell you why I like it, dislike it, or who I would go with. Okay, the Atlanta Hawks. One more time. Jalen Johnson is Ziller's pick. Now, surprise me a little bit. Johnson made... All-Star and All-NBA last year. But Ziller thinks he has some potential for additional scoring volume. He could add to 22 points per game last year, especially now with the roster around him. I think it's unlikely because, again, he's sort of already hit the benchmarks. Could he score more? Yes. But will it be enough to warrant an MIP? Probably not. So my pick would be From the Hawks, Onyeka Okonkwo. Now, I should start by saying the odds of the Hawks winning a third straight Most Improved Player award are next to zero. I think they were the first team to go back-to-back in Nikhil Alexander-Walker and Dyson Daniels. So a third one, yeah, right. But Onyeka, his case, he's entering his seventh season in Atlanta. He turns 26 in December. So he's like knocking on the door of his prime. He has increased his scoring every year. So he's got that little fun narrative built in. 4.6, 8.2, 9.9, 10.2, 13.4, 15.2. That's all he has to improve on. So he would have to flirt with a 2010 stat line. And, you know, he's added the three ball. He can hit it fairly consistency. He'd have to be a big guy that can shoot like nearly 40% from three. He'd have to chip in the two and a half stocks, let's say. in terms of steals and blocks. Maybe. Maybe there's a case. I wouldn't be putting money on Okonkwo to win MIP, but that's my Hawks pick. Sneaky pick could be Aaron Wiggins coming over from OKC as well. Boston Celtics. Ziller goes with Baylor Shireman. The Hobbit himself from the Shire, man. Shireman's role, Ziller thinks, could explode with Jalen Brown gone. He is starting at the incredibly low baseline of five and a half points per game. But even if that doubles, I mean, I don't know if that's enough. Like, I guess you would have to win this award like Daniels did, where you don't score a ton, but you lead the league in Daniels' case steals, right? I think he averaged like three steals per game when he won most improved. I mean, Shireman would have to be like this defensive star here if he's only scoring that amount of points. Now, Hugo Gonzalez, another... trendy dark horse pick here for this award. Both Shireman and Gonzalez, I mean, a part of the, yeah, they're too good, we believe. We're not trading them for a Giannis equation here. So we'll find out. My pick for the Celtics, I'm not overthinking it. Give me Peyton Pritchard. If he cracks the 20 point per game barrier, and let's just say he has an on-fire season from deep and he's hitting like three and a half, three pointers per game, the case starts being built there by the Boston media. He is also entering his seventh season. He's already in his prime. I think he's 28 years old already. The odds makers like him. Pritchard has the third best odds to win most improved at plus 1,300. So he's on the short list. Now, if he did win MIP, somebody correct me if I'm wrong in the stream team. He would add MIP to a sixth man of the year trophy, which he won a couple of years ago. And I think Again, somebody fact-check me. I think Daryl Armstrong is the only player in NBA history to win both awards in the same season. He did it in the— sorry, sorry. Pritchard wouldn't be doing it in the same season. Daryl Armstrong did it in the same season back in the late 90s. But I'm not sure anyone else has even won a most improved and a sixth man. Again, like Detlef Schrempf, he's got a couple of sixth men, but I don't think he won most improved, so. You know, Pritchard going for history. I'll take Pritchard on the Celtics. I think he's the most likely. Boston Nets, Brooklyn Nets, De'Ron Sharp. Ziller likes Sharp's potential to embrace a starting role with Nick Claxton gone. He could put up numbers on high efficiency. Sharp's per 36 numbers have always looked pretty damn tasty. Now, he only played like 19 minutes per game. So you got to take this with a grain of salt. But his per 36 numbers were like a guy averaging 17, 13, and four and a half. Like lights out numbers here if he could somehow like sustain those levels in big minutes. He ain't getting to those. Could he improve enough to be in the conversation for MIP? Sure. A lot of people will say maybe Yegor Jomin. He'd be a popular pick, though. You know I loathe taking players in their second year, so don't love that. My weird pick for the Nets, Michael Porter Jr. Okay, here's what would have to happen. MPJ would have to average basically the exact same numbers as last year, so he wouldn't improve much, I don't think, on 24 points per game, 7 boards, 3 assists. I think the efficiency would have to jump. And then the Nets would have to win a bunch of games. They would have to surprise people. They'd have to double up their win total from 20 wins to suddenly they're like a 40-win team and they are in the play-in race and they're making their way through a backdoor to get into the playoffs. It's far-fetched. We've got to have some bad teams in the East. The Nets will probably be one of them. But maybe there's a weird case for Michael Porter Jr. there. What do you think? Sharp, Porter Jr., who do you pick from the Nets? With all of these teams, let me know in the stream team and obviously in the comments. The Charlotte Hornets. Okay, Brandon Miller is Ziller's pick. He's not overthinking this one. He's the league-wide favorite for the award at plus 750. He's already made some pretty serious leaps. We've seen the flashes from Brandon Miller. The loss of LaMelo Ball should supercharge his role. Ziller writes, I'm seeing a game into the mid-20s. for per-game scoring, a 30% usage rate. And if things go well enough for Charlotte, some consideration for All-Star and maybe All-NBA. That's the Brandon Miller case. I think that makes a lot of sense. He gets compared to Paul George a lot in terms of how they play, how they look. Paul George won most improved in 2012-13. The Pacers had a really good year that year. I think they went from like a 500 team to nearly a 50-win team, if I remember, like a 49-win team. And Paul George became an all-star. I think he was suddenly getting, you know, all defensive team selections like right away there. Now, Brandon Miller has to improve on that end, in my opinion. But yeah, I see the case for Brandon Miller if the shoulder holds up. Just to pick somebody else, though, what about Kobe White? What if Brandon Miller gets injured again, let's say, or doesn't hit the 65-game threshold? A narrative would be there for Kobe White. If he scores 22 a game, shoots 39% from deep, the Hornets don't miss a beat without LaMelo. He slides right into that starting role at the point guard spot. We've seen him score before. There's like a two-year window on the Chicago Bulls. where Kobe White basically averaged 20 points per game. So, you know, we're not asking a guy to go from 10 to like, can you flirt 23, 24 a game? Like people can do that, but like, good luck. Kobe White's already there, right? So again, the Hornets would have to surprise. Brandon Miller, again, favorite to win this from the odds maker. That would be my pick. I'm just playing devil's advocate here and giving you a little Kobe White. Chicago Bulls. Matas Buzelis. Ziller notes he had a big statistical jump in year two, stands to boost those numbers again. His usage rate was just under 23% last season, so you'd like to see Tiago Splitter, who's obviously the coach now of the Bulls, give Buzelis the reins like he did for Denny Avdia last season. I think that's good in concept. Bouzelis is going to have to become a much better passer if that happens, better at drawing fouls if that happens. Then, of course, there's the whole Caleb Wilson dynamic. Like, can he come in right away and he's winning Rookie of the Year and he's like the alpha dog from day one? We'll see. But Bouzelis only averaged 16 points per game last year. So there's room there to jump into the 20s, low 20s, for him to win MIP. I like the pick. My wildcard pick would be Josh Giddey. Because in this hypothetical, Caleb Wilson comes in, he's the real deal. He's the ROI. He changes the dynamic of the Bulls. They're like a plus 500 team. Trey Kirby's saying the Bulls are back every second episode. Giddey last year averaged 17-9-8 in about 50 games. So if he maintained those numbers, if he's basically... Flirting with a 20-point triple-double on a good team, I think he would maybe warrant some consideration. Maybe. The scoring is not going to jump enough for him to really win this. And then there's the thing where, again, somebody in the East does have to lose some games here, and most improved players don't usually come from really bad teams, so Bulls could be one of those bad teams. I do believe in Caleb Wilson, though. But Bezelis is probably the number one pick. Cavaliers. Peyton Watson, says Ziller. He says there are actually no good candidates, no good car ideas on the Cavaliers. He goes through the roster, right? Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, obviously too established, too good. Jared Allen, already a former All-Star. That's a knock against him. Evan Mobley, same thing. Defensive Player of the Year under his belt. So maybe, this is Ziller thinking it out here, maybe Watson gets like a vibes boost. If Cleveland has like a lights out, excellent regular season, they lead the East. They're the 60 win team in the conference and Watson levels up the scoring and he gets some praise. I like it. The other pick is probably a trendy name, like lower down Jalen Tyson. I'll take him just for being different. Um, I'm skeptical he's going to be able to continue to shoot 45% from three, but if he does, then Tyson could do this if he levels up. Dallas Mavericks, Ziller went with Derek Lively II. Here's his case. He had a totally lost season in 25-26 due to injury. He missed basically half of the season prior, 24-25. So in a bigger role, could Lively be a double-double machine? Maybe. My crazy pick for most improved? I can't believe I'm going to say this because it goes against everything I stand for when it comes to most improved. But what about Cooper Flagg? What about Cooper Flagg? It's been 20 years since a player won most improved in his sophomore season. I think the last to do it was Monte Ellis. It used to happen a lot back in like the earlier stages of this award. Gilbert Arenas, Kevin Johnson, I think Kevin Duckworth. There's a couple other guys that won in their second year, but it's been a long time. I mean, it's like I am on board saying like, come on. Especially if you won rookie of the year. Yeah, you should get better. No, no, duh. But for Flagg to do it, he would have to like rise immediately to the end of a ballot MVP guy. If Bon Temps was still doing the straw poll, people would have to be putting Flagg this coming season, third, fourth, fifth, whatever. He'd be in the running. He'd be getting votes. Then if that was the case, This MIP would be like a consolation prize to the MVP. I know Trey and I have talked about this before on the show. It's happened, right? John Morant comes to mind. 21-22 season. John Morant finished 7th in MVP votes. He was an all-star. He was All-NBA's second team. And, you know, he got the MIP. Again, it was sort of a little bit, we know you're really good. You were Rookie of the Year. But here you go. Here you go. Just for being... in the conversation for MVP. So John Moran averaged 27-6-7 that year. He won most improved. Semi-attainable numbers for Cooper, I think. Could it happen? Maybe. I think the voters would love to give it to him, so he's my wildcard pick for the Mavericks. Even though he's a second-year player. Denver Nuggets. Julian Strother. Okay. Okay. Ziller says this is the play if you think David Adelman, their coach, will move Cam Johnson or Christian Brown to a pure bench role and give Strother the Michael Porter Jr. style role. Probably not happening. Even Ziller admitted that. Because of that, I guess my pick from the Nuggets would be Christian Brown. You're just hoping for an insane bounce-back season. He only played 44 games last year. He only averaged 12 points per game. He's shot. Did he shoot under 30% from three, I want to say, or right around there? He'd have to go back to looking like the, well, the guy that ended up getting paid by the Nuggets, where the trajectory was looking real nice. This guy's a winner. Obviously helped him win the title. He was young. He was turning into something. So, you know, I don't think it's likely with the Nuggets. I'll take Brown over Strother, though, as an outside chance. Detroit Pistons, Asar Thompson, says Ziller. Thompson finished third in defensive player of the year. So all the improvement in the eyes of the voters is going to have to come on offense. Plenty of room to grow. Plenty of room to grow. He would just have to blossom into that second creator role for Detroit. And then maybe MIP is in play. Maybe. Maybe. I think there's some other nominees on the Pistons. I think Paul Reed... He would be like the De'Ron Sharp sort of case. B-Ball Paul, he's a per 36 darling. He's to the extreme of per 36 darling. He only played 14 minutes per game. So when you do his per 36 averages, this guy's awesome. He's like a 20 and 12 with two and a half steals and two and a half blocks. You know, he's basically Hakeem Olajuwon. So, you know, good luck taking the 14 minutes per game and then projecting it to the per 36. If you got an opportunity there, now Jalen Duren is there again. He will be playing. He got his $ 200 million. No weight clause. All right, good for you. But, yeah, I'll take B-Ball Paul. I guess Stannis Jenkins is a nominee. Ron Holland entering year three. Sure. So tell me who you think between a Star Thompson, Paul Reed, Jenkins, Holland, maybe somebody else I'm missing on Detroit. Golden State Warriors. Brandon... Bojemski. The role is wide open for Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody being out for pods to slip in there. And we've seen he has the ability to ramp up his volume and his playmaking when needed. He has increased his scoring all three seasons. I think his efficiency would really need to pop here in this year to win this award. I like that pick. The other guy on the Warriors, Gui Santos. Kerr loves the Brazilian. He's going to play I don't think he'll ever have the numbers to challenge for this. Pods. much better chance. I would ultimately pick Pods from the Warriors. Can we pick a rookie of the year? Can you pick Yaxel Lindenborg for most improved? We never had that. Never had a rookie win MIP. That'd be something. Houston Rockets, Reed Shepard. This one caught me by surprise from Ziller. As he notes, though, it's going to be tough with Imei Yudoka on the sidelines and Fred VanVleet coming back. Reid would have to have a very significant third-year jump to win MIP. Now, he does get compared to Mark Price a lot. In year three, I went and checked, that is when Mark Price leveled up. He averaged 19 points per game, 8 assists per game in 88-89. He became a first-time All-Star. I think he cracked an All-NBA third team that year. So that's what Reid would have to do. I don't think it's happening. I think it's just a safer pick, even if it's far-fetched to go Ahmed Thompson. He could be an all-star with all-star-like numbers. Jabari Smith Jr., I probably would even slot ahead of Reed's chances with Freddie back in the mix. Don't love anyone's chances, but I'll take the other Thompson twin here in Ahmed. Indiana Pacers, Jairus Walker. Ziller says they don't have any great candidates, so maybe Walker will figure it out. of what he needs to bring to a high-end NBA team and thrive in a new role. Maybe. Maybe, maybe, maybe. Other nominees... Andrew Nembhard, probably not, with Halliburton back. Obi Toppin, I'm not going to bet on that. Kelly Oubre Jr. on a new team. Meh. Can't say I love anyone's most improved chances here on the Pacers. But, but, but, but, this is a franchise that has had five different players win most improved. Trivia question for everybody joining live right now. Who are the five to win for the Pacers while I take a drink of water? Okay, you got it? Jalen Rose, Jermaine O'Neal, Danny Granger, Paul George, Victor Oladipo. Five MIP winners. I think that's tied with the magic for the most in NBA history. Those are all really solid players. So, Could they have had a sixth? I see somebody here in the stream team saying, Johnny Furphy. He's hurt, isn't he? Isn't he injured? I think it's unlikely. Yeah, Zubat, somebody said. I mean, Zubat's like his numbers aren't going to like change. He's posted really good numbers before. Yeah, maybe the case he turns into an all-star and surprises. Maybe. Yeah, okay. You know what? If I had to pick somebody, I don't mind it. Put me down for a big Z. Los Angeles Clippers. Ziller went with Jordan Miller. Ziller said he considered Rui Hachimura as a candidate to have like a Lowry-Markkinen style leap. Don't be worried, Rui is not the scorer that Markkinen was when he went from the East, obviously, to the Utah Jazz. So he decided on Miller, a promising guard, as Ziller said. Now, here's the issue, though. Miller suffered a torn left rotator cuff in late August. I think Ziller may have missed that one. Because I think he's out for months. He's going to be re-evaluated in like six months, I believe. Can't see him winning. So you've got to pick somebody else on the Clippers. Maybe Rui, yeah. What about a second-year guy? Break my rule again. Kobe Sanders, maybe. Probably nobody. The answer is nobody is winning most improved on the Clippers. You've got to pick a guy established. Probably Rui. To the Lakers we go. We put them on the thumbnail, that big old guy, Walker Kessler. That's who Ziller picks here. The Lakers gave up a trade package and a contract to treat Walker Kessler like, well, their star center, future center here. The savior, as Ziller put it. And what if the Lakers are right? What if they just nailed it? Because life with Luka Doncic should be really kind to Walker Kessler. The odds right now have Kessler at plus 3,000. So I think that puts him in around the top 10 favorites for most improved. He's been a double-double when he's healthy. He's going to shoot... Where do you think he's going to shoot? It's going to be between 70% and 75%, probably being on the Lakers with Luka, with his shot diet. It's going to be high. So yeah, good pick. Um... I guess he can make a case for Austin Reeves, maybe to get some consideration, though he's already scoring 23 points per game. He would just have to be an all-star and I guess maybe a third-team All-NBA or something like that. Maybe Mahmoud, Jake LaRavia pop. Maybe Quentin Grimes. Didn't Quentin Grimes average like 22 points per game when he got traded from Dallas to Philly at the end of that year? In like 25 games, something like that. Can you do that for a season? I think I would back Zillers-Kessler if I have to pick a Laker. The Memphis Grizzlies, he went with another big guy, even bigger than Walker-Kessler, Zach Eadie. Good old Canadian boy. Eadie's the best candidate, he writes, on a young, low-expectation Grizzlies team. It says low expectation. I'm hearing a lot of podcasts that are a lot higher on the Grizzlies than I am, maybe. A lot of people I trust and respect are talking themselves into the Grizzlies' surprise eggs. I mean, it'd be cool. It'd be great. But I don't know. There's still a lot of good teams I think I have ahead of them. Anyway, Ziller writes, Edie feels like a candidate to have a 20-12 season for a bad team. Okay. Low expectations. Maybe Ziller doesn't think they're going to be that good. But I will note, if Edie plays 12, 12 in the 20-12 hypothetical season, that's probably low. This guy is a rebound monster because he is a monster. If he actually plays, I think that's even higher. I don't know about the scoring element, but rebounds? Yeah, I feel good about that. Anyway, I'm not taking Edie. I can't trust those big old feet. Give me Ty Jerome. And he is one of the favorites to win this award, so I'm not getting cute here by any means. The thinking with Ty Jerome is he averaged 20 points per game last year in the very sporadic times he was playing. He missed a chunk of the season, And then I felt like he came back and he's gone, came back, he's gone, came back, he was gone. Like, you know, I don't think he strung together more than, well, he only played 15 total. I don't think he strung together more than five in a row, if I remember. So, but he was good when he played. He shot 42% from deep. He had a crazy player efficiency rating at like 25. Again, super small sample size, but we're projecting here. He'll get a chance, the opportunity. Maybe they surprise some people led by Cam Boozer in there now. So I would take Ty Jerome. The Miami Heat, Ziller goes with Pele Larson. Because of all the roster turnover with the Giannis trade, there is now opportunity for role players to soak up some volume, to soak up some reps that guys like Jaime Jaquez Jr. had and Norman Powell were getting. And Ziller thinks maybe it's Larson. He had a strong summer playing for Sweden in FIBA, if you care. And he signed an extension, so the guy's been paid here. Now, I wonder if Larson is ever going to be able to score enough to win this award. He's got no three-point shot, so that just has to magically appear. But then I can't really pick anybody else on the Heat, so I think I'd go Larson for MIP. Jovic, no thank you. I know Tass still believes, but I think I'm losing hope. Fontecchio is a good player. There's not going to be a doubling up with his stats. Drew Smith, same thing. Davion Mitchell, again, I don't think the stats are going to wow us. He feels a little too established too, so I guess it's Larson by default. Bobby Port is too established. Nick Richards, no. Larson? We'll go Larson. Milwaukee Bucks, Khalil Ware. A couple of players involved in the honest trade are solid MIP players. candidates for milwaukee but where is the choice for ziller uh i thought he made a good point here that the new milwaukee bucks head coach taylor jenkins he did help jaron jackson jr find a really excellent role in this league um and stats if we're being honest despite some flaws in his game and there's a chance he could do the same with with with where i'm a big believer still in where i uh I incorrectly had him as my sixth man of the year last year, thinking he was going to come off the bench and put up big numbers, and Spolster's like, no, he's not. I don't trust him defensively. So he's going to get a fresh start here in Milwaukee. I would pick him. I would pick Ware for my MIP pick for the Milwaukee Bucks, but just for shits and giggles. I think Ryan Rollins deserves some sort of look here. Now, for Rollins to win, it would have to be the voters taking in most improved in like a two-year window. Because his numbers jumped last year. He went from 6 points per game to doubling his minutes and then getting a scoring to 17 points per game on pretty similar efficiency, if I remember correctly. So he'd have to grow on that. He'd have to become a 20-point-per-game scorer. Could Ryan Rollins win this thing? Maybe, but they're not going to be good either. So that's going to really hurt his chances. So Ware or Rollins. Timberwolves. LaMelo Ball. Now this was one of Ziller's most intriguing MIP picks. Here's the case for LaMelo Ball laid out by Ziller. If the Wolves end up joining the Thunder or Spurs... in the top tier in the Western Conference, and LaMelo plays a lot, and he produces efficiently, Ziller thinks voters are going to want to reward it and reward LaMelo. Now the issue, and Ziller notes this too, points it out, LaMelo has been an all-star. He's averaged 25-5-7 for a season already in his career. But the counter to that is his numbers were down last year. You know, it was a bit of a, not a great 25-26 in terms of the numbers. So, you know, maybe. I think it's very far-fetched. I don't, almost 0% chance of him winning MIP. So I lean towards Terrence Shannon Jr., who in the playoffs doubled his scoring output. Maybe he rides that into year three. If you want to allow second-year guys, Frenchman Johan Berenger is an intriguing pick. After they lose Nas Reed, after they lose Julius Randle, You know, there's just Rudy. He's getting up there in age. Maybe he gets injured and misses a chunk of time and Baron J pops. Trey's a believer in him. So again, he's a second year guy. It's extremely unlikely, but I guess I'd go Terrence Shannon Jr. LaMelo is a hilarious concept. The Pelicans. Ziller says it's hard to find a candidate and he goes with Jeremiah Fierce, a second year guy, a classic high potential rookie point guard who Could figure it out in year two. That's Ziller's thinking here. Because Trey Murphy III, already too good, unless he becomes a 1A option. Herb Jones, widely respected, and is just not going to score enough. Zion Williamson has already been a two-time All-Star. DeJounte Murray is a grizzled vet at this point. So Ziller goes fierce. I go Benedict Mathurin. This is basically a contract year for Benny the Baker. because he has a player option. I mean, he signed the two-year $ 16 million deal. It's a player option. So he's, you know, you play really, really well here. You then test the market again. If he could ever add a consistent three-point shot, he's an easy 20-point-per-game scorer. If he could do that, because he lives at the line. Far-fetched, but give me Benny the Baker. Does he still bake? Good question. Um, What's the delicacy in New Orleans that he could be baking, too? I'm forgetting the word for it, but French donuts? You know what I'm talking about. Maybe he's just doing some... They put the king cake baby in those cakes, too. New York Knicks, Jalen Brunson. Ziller writes, This is probably the most ridiculous choice in this column, but hear me out. I'm quoting Ziller here. Respect for Brunson. It's never been higher. Across the league. He's never made first-team All-NBA. He's never finished higher than number five in MVP voting. And the Knicks haven't been a number one seed in this era. So, Ziller says, imagine New York continues its rampage here. They win 65 games. They look like the repeat favorite. And Brunson is right there competing with Weminyama for MVP. That's the case for Brunson. For most improved. And Ziller then jokingly says, it's either this or Mohamed Diawara. So I love this out-of-the-box thinking here with the Brunson pick. I think OG Ananobi is a more realistic pick. I also think his respect level league-wide is at an all-time high. It's probably right there with Brunson, if we're being honest. He would have to be more selfish offensively. OG would have to crack 20 points per game. And then maintain his status as like one of the best wing defenders in the league. With your Asar Thompsons and your Scotty Barnes and other guys. But OG is one of the best. So maybe more realistic than Brunson. For MIP. People love OG. And want to give him something. He's never won anything, has he? Besides obviously a championship. So give me OG for New York's MIP. The Oklahoma City Thunder. They got a... Two pretty good candidates. Zee notes that he is going with Kaysen Wallace, who is a preseason favorite for defensive player of the year in the non-Wemby category. He's never averaged nine points per game, so it's a low, low bar. And he should see an increased role, Kaysen Wallace should, with Lou Dort gone. And OKC is a very good team, too. I like it. I would take Kaysen Wallace here. AJ Mitchell... Also is entering year three with OKC. He should have more opportunity. The odds have Mitchell at plus 3,000, which is a tick below Wallace at plus 2,500 in the most improved odds. One of those two guys feels like the right Thunder selection. Orlando Magic. Anthony Black, says Ziller. Black's role in Orlando has grown. He's a strong breakout candidate. The biggest roadblock is him scoring goals. over 20 points per game on that roster with Paolo, with Franz, with Bane, with Suggs when he plays. Yeah, it's just tough to have 20, 21 points per game from Black, even though there's been flashes from him. My pick for the Magic, I don't love anyone really on this roster. I mean, I guess I could squint and see Black. Maybe, maybe if Franz becomes the 1A option, Because of an injury to Paolo. Because of a crazy trade. Let's say they break it up. And they give the keys to Franz. He's already had a season where he's averaged 24 points per game. So like. He'd have to be. Like it's. It's sort of. He's sort of like a Trey Murphy the third type here. It's like. Given the opportunity to be the 1A guy. And then going up a level. Okay. Maybe. But you've. People think you're really good already. So that's tough. In this conversation. For this award. So. It's. Anthony Black, maybe you think somebody else. I'm not going freaking Jace Richardson or something like that. Philadelphia 76ers, Ariel Huckporty. Sixers don't have a lot of candidates for MIP. So the thinking here from Ziller is if Embiid misses a bunch of time, if, when Embiid misses a bunch of time, Huckporty could see a lot of minutes. He'll have some opportunity there. Fair, fair reasoning there. I think the same could be said maybe for Dominic Barlow as a bit of a smaller big and he'd get the opportunity. It's not coming from this team. You know, Vijay Ajkom should continue to grow as a player, but that's a stacked roster now. So tough for an improvement in the stats. So Philly's not winning MIP. And maybe if it is one of these guys, one of the big guys, if Embiid or when Embiid goes down. Phoenix Suns, Malawach, says Ziller. Second-year player. What are you doing, Z? He notes, you know, second-year players, not historically great candidates for MIP. But Malawach was very ineffective as a rookie. So super low bar. He's going to get a shot here in Phoenix, we think, with Mark Williams' injury. So I get it. I like Malawach. I think there's still something there. He looked great in Summer League. But what about Oso Iguodoro? as the other option. Maybe all those Malawatch minutes just end up going to him, and he gets more. Could Oso double up his 7-5-2 stat line from last year? Is he a 14-10-4 guy? Probably not. Extremely unlikely. But one of those guys, one of the bigs, is probably the best bet from Phoenix. Couple more teams here. Portland Trailblazers, Scoot Henderson. Ziller says, it's hard to imagine Scoot getting enough reps on the ball with Damian Lillard, John Morant, Danny Avdia, and Drew Holiday here. Yeah. Yeah, it is. But... Dame, Drew, they're aging. John Morant hasn't proven over the last three years that he can actually play more than six or seven straight games. So... You know, maybe. And then Ziller wrote, and I want to get everybody's opinion on this, one factor. It does feel like the media broadly does root for Scoot. I hadn't thought about this. Is this true? Does the media broadly really like Scoot Henderson and back him? I'm not saying I completely disagree. I just had no opinion on this. I'd never heard this. I'd never really thought of it. I trust Ziller's West Coast opinions probably more than mine. So you tell me, do they? Does the media really go to bat for Scoot? I hadn't thought of it. The only other pick I could talk myself into from the Blazers is Tumani Kamara. But I don't think a scoring jump, a significant scoring jump will be there. He averaged 13.5 last year. Now he's going to maintain, I think, his status as like a, where do you put him? Top scorer. I was going to say top 10, at least top 15 defender probably in the league on the wing, easily on the wing, but overall even. So he'd have to really pop. offensively. And I probably don't see that happening. Especially on this weird team. So scoot it is. Sacramento Kings. This is Ziller's team. He goes with Keegan Murray. And I tend to agree with him. I don't have an alternative. His thinking is if Sabonis gets traded, Zach Levine gets bought out, that There's potential for Keegan Murray to be featured as the co-star to rookie Darius Acuff Jr. and maybe average 22, 23 points per game on decent efficiency. Sure, sure. I'm on board with that. Kings are probably going to stink, so that's going to hurt his case, but let's get a bounce back from Keegan Murray. That'd just be fun for everybody, especially Kings fans. Do it for Deuce and Moe and their new dicks that I saw. Congrats to them on that. San Antonio Spurs, he went with Carter Bryant. Ziller is presuming that Castle and Harper are too well-respected after the finals run to get any play here. I don't think that matters. I actually think the opposite. I think it makes the voters more likely that finals run and what we saw in the playoffs to maybe award one of these guys with an award like this. Because the thinking is, from the voters' perspective, we know you're good. We saw you're good. We just want to see it consistently. That's the improvement. And if they do, I think voters would want to give them an award like this. But Ziller thinks, to go back to his pick in Bryant, a second-year guy, again, that Mitch Johnson trusted Bryant in big spots in the playoffs and will get maybe a chance again. Sure. But my pick would be... Ooh, between those two. Hmm. Okay, Harper would have to be like... the second-year flag potential, right? Vegas, by the way, loves Harper's chances at plus 1,200. But he would have to, in the second year, go to all-star level, go to all-NBA level, probably starting in this equation, getting big minutes. And because of that, and because he's a second-year guy, which I don't think is realistic, I'm going to take Castle. He only averaged 16.7 points per game last year, still room for growth. And I also think this will be the era where voters start respecting and rewarding his defense. I think he's one of the best on-ball defenders when it comes to hounding guys. We saw that in the postseason. So I'll take Castle for MIP from the Spurs. Side note here, as I was going through this exercise, could the Spurs damn near sweep all the NBA awards? Hear me out. Let's say Wemby does the honest. He wins MVP and Defensive Player of the Year. That's not even far-fetched. Let's say the Spurs win 65-plus games. They won over 60 last year. This isn't even that far-fetched. They're the number one seed in the league. They win 65, 66 games. Mitch Johnson probably gets coach of the year if they run away or are the clear number one across the league. Castle. powers up, as I've been talking about, as Wemby's number two guy. He goes to 20 points per game. He becomes an all-star, and that gets him enough to win most improved. And then, either Dylan Harper or De'Aaron Fox could win a six-man, whoever comes off the bench. That's a lot of the awards. That leaves Rookie of the Year. Come on, Jaden... Quaintness. Is that his name? I think that's his name. Number 20 pick. You can do it. You can win rookie of the year too. I don't know. Spurs are shaping up like they could take a lot of the hardware. Toronto Raptors. Scotty Barnes says Ziller. He knew I was going to be reading this. Ziller's case is that Barnes can consolidate all the attention, all the rave he got For his playoff performance. And he can go from an all-star. To an all-NBA level. And maybe receive MVP ballot consideration. Sign me up for all of that Ziller. I think a part of this equation. Kawhi would have to. You know. Miss his 25, 30 whatever games. Raptors stay elite. They're one of the better teams in the East. Scottie has never averaged 20 points per game. I couldn't believe. I think he was a 19.9. Per game guy one year. But. He's also a two-time All-Star, so much more difficult to win most improved after you've already been selected to an All-Star team, let alone two. I would love to pick quickly here in this exercise, but I do not think he'll ever be an efficient scorer. So give me Jacoby Walter if I pick somebody else on the Raptors as a ridiculous long shot. You know what they say? He added 10 pounds of muscle only to his upper body. Didn't do a single leg exercise. Utah Jazz. Ace Bailey says, Ziller, hard team to find a candidate. Again, he said Keontae George didn't receive a single vote last season, which is pretty remarkable. Sort of a textbook candidate for MIP when you think about it. He averaged 24-6. But the team stunk. So, again, usually your team's got to be decent. So, Ace Bailey, I like. I would take that pick. I can't talk myself into anybody else. Bryce Sensabaugh. Isaiah Collier, they don't do it for me for this. So I would lean ace. The most hilarious most improved player candidate would probably be Yusuf Nurkic, who I guess is going to start alongside Markanen and Triple J. He's like a 12-year veteran. Can't imagine that's ever happened in most improved winners, being that old. But what? Nurk averaged double-double when he Played in like half the games last year. That'd be the funniest MIP candidate. Now I'm rooting for it. And then finally, the Washington Wizards' Alex Saar, says Ziller, noting that there's a lot of guys to pick from, but he thinks if the Wizards leap up the standings with or without Anthony Davis playing a part, that Saar would be a big factor. Why? Fair. A lot of decent options, though, like he said, and I would echo. Koulibaly, maybe. Trey Johnson and Will Riley, second year guys. So, you know, don't want to do that. So give me Keyshawn George, who is heading into year three. He averaged 15-5-5 before getting injured in April. I don't, well, I don't know if he'll ever be a 20 point per game score. I guess he could be. He's not that far off. But he's an awesome glue guy. Does a bit of everything. I'm pretty confident in saying that I think Keyshawn George will help a team win a championship one day. I don't know if it'll be the Wizards, but He just feels like that perfect guy that's going to be your third, fourth, or fifth best player on a team and just comes through and is just steady as a rock. I feel good about that prediction. So I'll take him as MIP. So there it is. We did all 30 teams. Most improved player candidates for all five teams. For all 30 teams, excuse me. Who did we miss, though? Go ahead and play the What About This Guy game in the comments, as I'm sure you are in the stream team. It's impossible for me to read the stream team while I'm doing this, by the way. So I'm sure you're crapping on all of our picks here, but that's fine. Do you. All right, before I go, we'll be reminding everyone for the month of October, new No Dunks reversible basketball jerseys are for sale. Limited time only. We're talking weeks here and then they're gone for good. You can get them in red with the reverse being white or forest green. Is that a forest green? Sure. Reverse being white. These look awesome. These are sick. I just saw Trey Kirby hit a three-point shot in one of these. Turn around and mug for the camera. You too can hit a three like Trey Kirby in one of these jerseys. So go to nodunks.com. That takes you, by the way, I saw somebody asking, are these legit? They're on BreakingTea.com. Yes, that's who we pair with to make all of our merch. So NoDunks.com will take you to the Breaking Tea site. And then you'll see that jersey. And then you can buy that jersey. And then you can be a superstar in your No Dunks gear. And I would love to see. Look, I'm just throwing it out there. Love to see a team, a complete rec league team, go full No Dunks for a season. Go win the chip. I just want to see a photo holding the trophy, all those jerseys. And if you do, if somebody does that, We'll send you something. I'll just... I'll send you something here from the factory or my place or whatever. All right, guys. Appreciate you joining me. Our No Dunks 2026-27 NBA Season Preview Series tips on Wednesday. Over-under predictions time. We will very likely start with the Eastern Conference. Why? I don't know. We always do. And then on Friday, we'll do the West. The following week, we'll do our first-time All-Stars draft. That's always fun. We'll do awards predictions. I mean, jeez, I just went Where do I go here? 40 minutes plus on MIP. We'll do all the other awards. Talk those out with the guys. We'll do tiers. We'll do burning questions. Ain't nobody do season preview like we do at No Dunks. This will be what? Year 21? I can never keep track and then everybody always gets mad at me. Is it 20, 21, 22? I don't know. It's long. We've been around forever. So the least you can do is hit the like button, subscribe, five-star ratings and reviews. Thanks to everybody who joined me live here on a Saturday. Thanks for watching later. Thanks for listening. And again, we'll see you next week. Oh yeah, Clipper Bros. You heard it here first. Have a great time. Turn it up. Love you guys. Awesome. I nearly forgot about Clipper Bro. It's been devastating. Brace the weekend, people.
Speaker 1: Good day, sweet world, and welcome to another No Dunks podcast. It's Saturday, October 3rd. I'm J.E. Skeets, here in the yard where the boys play. Shouts to everybody joining me live on YouTube or listening later on Apple or Spotify. Do all the things I always ask you to do. Like, comment, sub, share, and five-star ratings and reviews. That's all we ask here at No Dunks. Today's weekend podcast, it's all about most improved players. It is 100% inspired by one of my favorite NBA writers. It's a guy I mention all the time on our podcast. That is Tom Ziller. Affectionately, I refer to him as Ghostface Ziller. Ziller writes by far and away the best NBA newsletter on the internet. It's not even close. There's a lot of good ones, but Ziller's number one in my books. It's called Good Morning, It's Basketball. I will link to it in the show notes. You should subscribe. It is the best way to keep up with the league. All you need is good morning, it's basketball and no dunks. And I think you're set. But yeah, make sure you go at least check out Ziller's work and you should subscribe and support him and his great work. Anyway, Ziller recently wrote a column where he picks most improved player for every team in And you know, I absolutely love this sicko stuff. So we're going to go through each team here today. We're going to talk through the pros and cons of Ziller's selections. And then I'm going to make my own pick when or if I have a different option. So to start off here, Ziller notes in his article, and he wrote this at the end of September, quote, the NBA's most improved player award is a tricky one to nail down because the criteria is so nebulous. End quote. I think there is some truth to that, but it's a fun award to really debate. Now, our last 10 winners in reverse order are Nikhil Alexander-Walker, Dyson Daniels, Tyrese Maxey, Lowry Markkinen, Ja Morant, Julius Randall, Brandon Ingram, Pascal Siakam, Victor Oladipo, and the Greek freak himself, Giannis. So, Is there a pattern there? What's the pattern? Seven of those 10 guys, they made their first all-star team in their MIP award year, right? The only ones that didn't make an all-star team in the year they won most improved over the last 10 years were Siakam, which I had to like triple check, but he made it the following year, his first all-star team, but MIP, he didn't make it. And then the last two winners on the Hawks, caca, caca, double caca for Daniels and Alexander Walker. But seven of the 10 guys, they leveled up and they got the attention and their teams were probably pretty good. If you're making an all-star team, you had the numbers, all that stuff. So that's the pattern here. Basically, a lot of those names are like star level talents. So that's our baseline here when we go through every team. and we try and make a pick for a most improved candidate. Again, this is real sicko shit here. So let's move, because we've got 30 teams to do. I will start every team with Ziller's pick, his explanation, and then again, tell you why I like it, dislike it, or who I would go with. Okay, the Atlanta Hawks. One more time. Jalen Johnson is Ziller's pick. Now, surprise me a little bit. Johnson made... All-Star and All-NBA last year. But Ziller thinks he has some potential for additional scoring volume. He could add to 22 points per game last year, especially now with the roster around him. I think it's unlikely because, again, he's sort of already hit the benchmarks. Could he score more? Yes. But will it be enough to warrant an MIP? Probably not. So my pick would be From the Hawks, Onyeka Okonkwo. Now, I should start by saying the odds of the Hawks winning a third straight Most Improved Player award are next to zero. I think they were the first team to go back-to-back in Nikhil Alexander-Walker and Dyson Daniels. So a third one, yeah, right. But Onyeka, his case, he's entering his seventh season in Atlanta. He turns 26 in December. So he's like knocking on the door of his prime. He has increased his scoring every year. So he's got that little fun narrative built in. 4.6, 8.2, 9.9, 10.2, 13.4, 15.2. That's all he has to improve on. So he would have to flirt with a 2010 stat line. And, you know, he's added the three ball. He can hit it fairly consistency. He'd have to be a big guy that can shoot like nearly 40% from three. He'd have to chip in the two and a half stocks, let's say. in terms of steals and blocks. Maybe. Maybe there's a case. I wouldn't be putting money on Okonkwo to win MIP, but that's my Hawks pick. Sneaky pick could be Aaron Wiggins coming over from OKC as well. Boston Celtics. Ziller goes with Baylor Shireman. The Hobbit himself from the Shire, man. Shireman's role, Ziller thinks, could explode with Jalen Brown gone. He is starting at the incredibly low baseline of five and a half points per game. But even if that doubles, I mean, I don't know if that's enough. Like, I guess you would have to win this award like Daniels did, where you don't score a ton, but you lead the league in Daniels' case steals, right? I think he averaged like three steals per game when he won most improved. I mean, Shireman would have to be like this defensive star here if he's only scoring that amount of points. Now, Hugo Gonzalez, another... trendy dark horse pick here for this award. Both Shireman and Gonzalez, I mean, a part of the, yeah, they're too good, we believe. We're not trading them for a Giannis equation here. So we'll find out. My pick for the Celtics, I'm not overthinking it. Give me Peyton Pritchard. If he cracks the 20 point per game barrier, and let's just say he has an on-fire season from deep and he's hitting like three and a half, three pointers per game, the case starts being built there by the Boston media. He is also entering his seventh season. He's already in his prime. I think he's 28 years old already. The odds makers like him. Pritchard has the third best odds to win most improved at plus 1,300. So he's on the short list. Now, if he did win MIP, somebody correct me if I'm wrong in the stream team. He would add MIP to a sixth man of the year trophy, which he won a couple of years ago. And I think Again, somebody fact-check me. I think Daryl Armstrong is the only player in NBA history to win both awards in the same season. He did it in the— sorry, sorry. Pritchard wouldn't be doing it in the same season. Daryl Armstrong did it in the same season back in the late 90s. But I'm not sure anyone else has even won a most improved and a sixth man. Again, like Detlef Schrempf, he's got a couple of sixth men, but I don't think he won most improved, so. You know, Pritchard going for history. I'll take Pritchard on the Celtics. I think he's the most likely. Boston Nets, Brooklyn Nets, De'Ron Sharp. Ziller likes Sharp's potential to embrace a starting role with Nick Claxton gone. He could put up numbers on high efficiency. Sharp's per 36 numbers have always looked pretty damn tasty. Now, he only played like 19 minutes per game. So you got to take this with a grain of salt. But his per 36 numbers were like a guy averaging 17, 13, and four and a half. Like lights out numbers here if he could somehow like sustain those levels in big minutes. He ain't getting to those. Could he improve enough to be in the conversation for MIP? Sure. A lot of people will say maybe Yegor Jomin. He'd be a popular pick, though. You know I loathe taking players in their second year, so don't love that. My weird pick for the Nets, Michael Porter Jr. Okay, here's what would have to happen. MPJ would have to average basically the exact same numbers as last year, so he wouldn't improve much, I don't think, on 24 points per game, 7 boards, 3 assists. I think the efficiency would have to jump. And then the Nets would have to win a bunch of games. They would have to surprise people. They'd have to double up their win total from 20 wins to suddenly they're like a 40-win team and they are in the play-in race and they're making their way through a backdoor to get into the playoffs. It's far-fetched. We've got to have some bad teams in the East. The Nets will probably be one of them. But maybe there's a weird case for Michael Porter Jr. there. What do you think? Sharp, Porter Jr., who do you pick from the Nets? With all of these teams, let me know in the stream team and obviously in the comments. The Charlotte Hornets. Okay, Brandon Miller is Ziller's pick. He's not overthinking this one. He's the league-wide favorite for the award at plus 750. He's already made some pretty serious leaps. We've seen the flashes from Brandon Miller. The loss of LaMelo Ball should supercharge his role. Ziller writes, I'm seeing a game into the mid-20s. for per-game scoring, a 30% usage rate. And if things go well enough for Charlotte, some consideration for All-Star and maybe All-NBA. That's the Brandon Miller case. I think that makes a lot of sense. He gets compared to Paul George a lot in terms of how they play, how they look. Paul George won most improved in 2012-13. The Pacers had a really good year that year. I think they went from like a 500 team to nearly a 50-win team, if I remember, like a 49-win team. And Paul George became an all-star. I think he was suddenly getting, you know, all defensive team selections like right away there. Now, Brandon Miller has to improve on that end, in my opinion. But yeah, I see the case for Brandon Miller if the shoulder holds up. Just to pick somebody else, though, what about Kobe White? What if Brandon Miller gets injured again, let's say, or doesn't hit the 65-game threshold? A narrative would be there for Kobe White. If he scores 22 a game, shoots 39% from deep, the Hornets don't miss a beat without LaMelo. He slides right into that starting role at the point guard spot. We've seen him score before. There's like a two-year window on the Chicago Bulls. where Kobe White basically averaged 20 points per game. So, you know, we're not asking a guy to go from 10 to like, can you flirt 23, 24 a game? Like people can do that, but like, good luck. Kobe White's already there, right? So again, the Hornets would have to surprise. Brandon Miller, again, favorite to win this from the odds maker. That would be my pick. I'm just playing devil's advocate here and giving you a little Kobe White. Chicago Bulls. Matas Buzelis. Ziller notes he had a big statistical jump in year two, stands to boost those numbers again. His usage rate was just under 23% last season, so you'd like to see Tiago Splitter, who's obviously the coach now of the Bulls, give Buzelis the reins like he did for Denny Avdia last season. I think that's good in concept. Bouzelis is going to have to become a much better passer if that happens, better at drawing fouls if that happens. Then, of course, there's the whole Caleb Wilson dynamic. Like, can he come in right away and he's winning Rookie of the Year and he's like the alpha dog from day one? We'll see. But Bouzelis only averaged 16 points per game last year. So there's room there to jump into the 20s, low 20s, for him to win MIP. I like the pick. My wildcard pick would be Josh Giddey. Because in this hypothetical, Caleb Wilson comes in, he's the real deal. He's the ROI. He changes the dynamic of the Bulls. They're like a plus 500 team. Trey Kirby's saying the Bulls are back every second episode. Giddey last year averaged 17-9-8 in about 50 games. So if he maintained those numbers, if he's basically... Flirting with a 20-point triple-double on a good team, I think he would maybe warrant some consideration. Maybe. The scoring is not going to jump enough for him to really win this. And then there's the thing where, again, somebody in the East does have to lose some games here, and most improved players don't usually come from really bad teams, so Bulls could be one of those bad teams. I do believe in Caleb Wilson, though. But Bezelis is probably the number one pick. Cavaliers. Peyton Watson, says Ziller. He says there are actually no good candidates, no good car ideas on the Cavaliers. He goes through the roster, right? Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, obviously too established, too good. Jared Allen, already a former All-Star. That's a knock against him. Evan Mobley, same thing. Defensive Player of the Year under his belt. So maybe, this is Ziller thinking it out here, maybe Watson gets like a vibes boost. If Cleveland has like a lights out, excellent regular season, they lead the East. They're the 60 win team in the conference and Watson levels up the scoring and he gets some praise. I like it. The other pick is probably a trendy name, like lower down Jalen Tyson. I'll take him just for being different. Um, I'm skeptical he's going to be able to continue to shoot 45% from three, but if he does, then Tyson could do this if he levels up. Dallas Mavericks, Ziller went with Derek Lively II. Here's his case. He had a totally lost season in 25-26 due to injury. He missed basically half of the season prior, 24-25. So in a bigger role, could Lively be a double-double machine? Maybe. My crazy pick for most improved? I can't believe I'm going to say this because it goes against everything I stand for when it comes to most improved. But what about Cooper Flagg? What about Cooper Flagg? It's been 20 years since a player won most improved in his sophomore season. I think the last to do it was Monte Ellis. It used to happen a lot back in like the earlier stages of this award. Gilbert Arenas, Kevin Johnson, I think Kevin Duckworth. There's a couple other guys that won in their second year, but it's been a long time. I mean, it's like I am on board saying like, come on. Especially if you won rookie of the year. Yeah, you should get better. No, no, duh. But for Flagg to do it, he would have to like rise immediately to the end of a ballot MVP guy. If Bon Temps was still doing the straw poll, people would have to be putting Flagg this coming season, third, fourth, fifth, whatever. He'd be in the running. He'd be getting votes. Then if that was the case, This MIP would be like a consolation prize to the MVP. I know Trey and I have talked about this before on the show. It's happened, right? John Morant comes to mind. 21-22 season. John Morant finished 7th in MVP votes. He was an all-star. He was All-NBA's second team. And, you know, he got the MIP. Again, it was sort of a little bit, we know you're really good. You were Rookie of the Year. But here you go. Here you go. Just for being... in the conversation for MVP. So John Moran averaged 27-6-7 that year. He won most improved. Semi-attainable numbers for Cooper, I think. Could it happen? Maybe. I think the voters would love to give it to him, so he's my wildcard pick for the Mavericks. Even though he's a second-year player. Denver Nuggets. Julian Strother. Okay. Okay. Ziller says this is the play if you think David Adelman, their coach, will move Cam Johnson or Christian Brown to a pure bench role and give Strother the Michael Porter Jr. style role. Probably not happening. Even Ziller admitted that. Because of that, I guess my pick from the Nuggets would be Christian Brown. You're just hoping for an insane bounce-back season. He only played 44 games last year. He only averaged 12 points per game. He's shot. Did he shoot under 30% from three, I want to say, or right around there? He'd have to go back to looking like the, well, the guy that ended up getting paid by the Nuggets, where the trajectory was looking real nice. This guy's a winner. Obviously helped him win the title. He was young. He was turning into something. So, you know, I don't think it's likely with the Nuggets. I'll take Brown over Strother, though, as an outside chance. Detroit Pistons, Asar Thompson, says Ziller. Thompson finished third in defensive player of the year. So all the improvement in the eyes of the voters is going to have to come on offense. Plenty of room to grow. Plenty of room to grow. He would just have to blossom into that second creator role for Detroit. And then maybe MIP is in play. Maybe. Maybe. I think there's some other nominees on the Pistons. I think Paul Reed... He would be like the De'Ron Sharp sort of case. B-Ball Paul, he's a per 36 darling. He's to the extreme of per 36 darling. He only played 14 minutes per game. So when you do his per 36 averages, this guy's awesome. He's like a 20 and 12 with two and a half steals and two and a half blocks. You know, he's basically Hakeem Olajuwon. So, you know, good luck taking the 14 minutes per game and then projecting it to the per 36. If you got an opportunity there, now Jalen Duren is there again. He will be playing. He got his $ 200 million. No weight clause. All right, good for you. But, yeah, I'll take B-Ball Paul. I guess Stannis Jenkins is a nominee. Ron Holland entering year three. Sure. So tell me who you think between a Star Thompson, Paul Reed, Jenkins, Holland, maybe somebody else I'm missing on Detroit. Golden State Warriors. Brandon... Bojemski. The role is wide open for Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody being out for pods to slip in there. And we've seen he has the ability to ramp up his volume and his playmaking when needed. He has increased his scoring all three seasons. I think his efficiency would really need to pop here in this year to win this award. I like that pick. The other guy on the Warriors, Gui Santos. Kerr loves the Brazilian. He's going to play I don't think he'll ever have the numbers to challenge for this. Pods. much better chance. I would ultimately pick Pods from the Warriors. Can we pick a rookie of the year? Can you pick Yaxel Lindenborg for most improved? We never had that. Never had a rookie win MIP. That'd be something. Houston Rockets, Reed Shepard. This one caught me by surprise from Ziller. As he notes, though, it's going to be tough with Imei Yudoka on the sidelines and Fred VanVleet coming back. Reid would have to have a very significant third-year jump to win MIP. Now, he does get compared to Mark Price a lot. In year three, I went and checked, that is when Mark Price leveled up. He averaged 19 points per game, 8 assists per game in 88-89. He became a first-time All-Star. I think he cracked an All-NBA third team that year. So that's what Reid would have to do. I don't think it's happening. I think it's just a safer pick, even if it's far-fetched to go Ahmed Thompson. He could be an all-star with all-star-like numbers. Jabari Smith Jr., I probably would even slot ahead of Reed's chances with Freddie back in the mix. Don't love anyone's chances, but I'll take the other Thompson twin here in Ahmed. Indiana Pacers, Jairus Walker. Ziller says they don't have any great candidates, so maybe Walker will figure it out. of what he needs to bring to a high-end NBA team and thrive in a new role. Maybe. Maybe, maybe, maybe. Other nominees... Andrew Nembhard, probably not, with Halliburton back. Obi Toppin, I'm not going to bet on that. Kelly Oubre Jr. on a new team. Meh. Can't say I love anyone's most improved chances here on the Pacers. But, but, but, but, this is a franchise that has had five different players win most improved. Trivia question for everybody joining live right now. Who are the five to win for the Pacers while I take a drink of water? Okay, you got it? Jalen Rose, Jermaine O'Neal, Danny Granger, Paul George, Victor Oladipo. Five MIP winners. I think that's tied with the magic for the most in NBA history. Those are all really solid players. So, Could they have had a sixth? I see somebody here in the stream team saying, Johnny Furphy. He's hurt, isn't he? Isn't he injured? I think it's unlikely. Yeah, Zubat, somebody said. I mean, Zubat's like his numbers aren't going to like change. He's posted really good numbers before. Yeah, maybe the case he turns into an all-star and surprises. Maybe. Yeah, okay. You know what? If I had to pick somebody, I don't mind it. Put me down for a big Z. Los Angeles Clippers. Ziller went with Jordan Miller. Ziller said he considered Rui Hachimura as a candidate to have like a Lowry-Markkinen style leap. Don't be worried, Rui is not the scorer that Markkinen was when he went from the East, obviously, to the Utah Jazz. So he decided on Miller, a promising guard, as Ziller said. Now, here's the issue, though. Miller suffered a torn left rotator cuff in late August. I think Ziller may have missed that one. Because I think he's out for months. He's going to be re-evaluated in like six months, I believe. Can't see him winning. So you've got to pick somebody else on the Clippers. Maybe Rui, yeah. What about a second-year guy? Break my rule again. Kobe Sanders, maybe. Probably nobody. The answer is nobody is winning most improved on the Clippers. You've got to pick a guy established. Probably Rui. To the Lakers we go. We put them on the thumbnail, that big old guy, Walker Kessler. That's who Ziller picks here. The Lakers gave up a trade package and a contract to treat Walker Kessler like, well, their star center, future center here. The savior, as Ziller put it. And what if the Lakers are right? What if they just nailed it? Because life with Luka Doncic should be really kind to Walker Kessler. The odds right now have Kessler at plus 3,000. So I think that puts him in around the top 10 favorites for most improved. He's been a double-double when he's healthy. He's going to shoot... Where do you think he's going to shoot? It's going to be between 70% and 75%, probably being on the Lakers with Luka, with his shot diet. It's going to be high. So yeah, good pick. Um... I guess he can make a case for Austin Reeves, maybe to get some consideration, though he's already scoring 23 points per game. He would just have to be an all-star and I guess maybe a third-team All-NBA or something like that. Maybe Mahmoud, Jake LaRavia pop. Maybe Quentin Grimes. Didn't Quentin Grimes average like 22 points per game when he got traded from Dallas to Philly at the end of that year? In like 25 games, something like that. Can you do that for a season? I think I would back Zillers-Kessler if I have to pick a Laker. The Memphis Grizzlies, he went with another big guy, even bigger than Walker-Kessler, Zach Eadie. Good old Canadian boy. Eadie's the best candidate, he writes, on a young, low-expectation Grizzlies team. It says low expectation. I'm hearing a lot of podcasts that are a lot higher on the Grizzlies than I am, maybe. A lot of people I trust and respect are talking themselves into the Grizzlies' surprise eggs. I mean, it'd be cool. It'd be great. But I don't know. There's still a lot of good teams I think I have ahead of them. Anyway, Ziller writes, Edie feels like a candidate to have a 20-12 season for a bad team. Okay. Low expectations. Maybe Ziller doesn't think they're going to be that good. But I will note, if Edie plays 12, 12 in the 20-12 hypothetical season, that's probably low. This guy is a rebound monster because he is a monster. If he actually plays, I think that's even higher. I don't know about the scoring element, but rebounds? Yeah, I feel good about that. Anyway, I'm not taking Edie. I can't trust those big old feet. Give me Ty Jerome. And he is one of the favorites to win this award, so I'm not getting cute here by any means. The thinking with Ty Jerome is he averaged 20 points per game last year in the very sporadic times he was playing. He missed a chunk of the season, And then I felt like he came back and he's gone, came back, he's gone, came back, he was gone. Like, you know, I don't think he strung together more than, well, he only played 15 total. I don't think he strung together more than five in a row, if I remember. So, but he was good when he played. He shot 42% from deep. He had a crazy player efficiency rating at like 25. Again, super small sample size, but we're projecting here. He'll get a chance, the opportunity. Maybe they surprise some people led by Cam Boozer in there now. So I would take Ty Jerome. The Miami Heat, Ziller goes with Pele Larson. Because of all the roster turnover with the Giannis trade, there is now opportunity for role players to soak up some volume, to soak up some reps that guys like Jaime Jaquez Jr. had and Norman Powell were getting. And Ziller thinks maybe it's Larson. He had a strong summer playing for Sweden in FIBA, if you care. And he signed an extension, so the guy's been paid here. Now, I wonder if Larson is ever going to be able to score enough to win this award. He's got no three-point shot, so that just has to magically appear. But then I can't really pick anybody else on the Heat, so I think I'd go Larson for MIP. Jovic, no thank you. I know Tass still believes, but I think I'm losing hope. Fontecchio is a good player. There's not going to be a doubling up with his stats. Drew Smith, same thing. Davion Mitchell, again, I don't think the stats are going to wow us. He feels a little too established too, so I guess it's Larson by default. Bobby Port is too established. Nick Richards, no. Larson? We'll go Larson. Milwaukee Bucks, Khalil Ware. A couple of players involved in the honest trade are solid MIP players. candidates for milwaukee but where is the choice for ziller uh i thought he made a good point here that the new milwaukee bucks head coach taylor jenkins he did help jaron jackson jr find a really excellent role in this league um and stats if we're being honest despite some flaws in his game and there's a chance he could do the same with with with where i'm a big believer still in where i uh I incorrectly had him as my sixth man of the year last year, thinking he was going to come off the bench and put up big numbers, and Spolster's like, no, he's not. I don't trust him defensively. So he's going to get a fresh start here in Milwaukee. I would pick him. I would pick Ware for my MIP pick for the Milwaukee Bucks, but just for shits and giggles. I think Ryan Rollins deserves some sort of look here. Now, for Rollins to win, it would have to be the voters taking in most improved in like a two-year window. Because his numbers jumped last year. He went from 6 points per game to doubling his minutes and then getting a scoring to 17 points per game on pretty similar efficiency, if I remember correctly. So he'd have to grow on that. He'd have to become a 20-point-per-game scorer. Could Ryan Rollins win this thing? Maybe, but they're not going to be good either. So that's going to really hurt his chances. So Ware or Rollins. Timberwolves. LaMelo Ball. Now this was one of Ziller's most intriguing MIP picks. Here's the case for LaMelo Ball laid out by Ziller. If the Wolves end up joining the Thunder or Spurs... in the top tier in the Western Conference, and LaMelo plays a lot, and he produces efficiently, Ziller thinks voters are going to want to reward it and reward LaMelo. Now the issue, and Ziller notes this too, points it out, LaMelo has been an all-star. He's averaged 25-5-7 for a season already in his career. But the counter to that is his numbers were down last year. You know, it was a bit of a, not a great 25-26 in terms of the numbers. So, you know, maybe. I think it's very far-fetched. I don't, almost 0% chance of him winning MIP. So I lean towards Terrence Shannon Jr., who in the playoffs doubled his scoring output. Maybe he rides that into year three. If you want to allow second-year guys, Frenchman Johan Berenger is an intriguing pick. After they lose Nas Reed, after they lose Julius Randle, You know, there's just Rudy. He's getting up there in age. Maybe he gets injured and misses a chunk of time and Baron J pops. Trey's a believer in him. So again, he's a second year guy. It's extremely unlikely, but I guess I'd go Terrence Shannon Jr. LaMelo is a hilarious concept. The Pelicans. Ziller says it's hard to find a candidate and he goes with Jeremiah Fierce, a second year guy, a classic high potential rookie point guard who Could figure it out in year two. That's Ziller's thinking here. Because Trey Murphy III, already too good, unless he becomes a 1A option. Herb Jones, widely respected, and is just not going to score enough. Zion Williamson has already been a two-time All-Star. DeJounte Murray is a grizzled vet at this point. So Ziller goes fierce. I go Benedict Mathurin. This is basically a contract year for Benny the Baker. because he has a player option. I mean, he signed the two-year $ 16 million deal. It's a player option. So he's, you know, you play really, really well here. You then test the market again. If he could ever add a consistent three-point shot, he's an easy 20-point-per-game scorer. If he could do that, because he lives at the line. Far-fetched, but give me Benny the Baker. Does he still bake? Good question. Um, What's the delicacy in New Orleans that he could be baking, too? I'm forgetting the word for it, but French donuts? You know what I'm talking about. Maybe he's just doing some... They put the king cake baby in those cakes, too. New York Knicks, Jalen Brunson. Ziller writes, This is probably the most ridiculous choice in this column, but hear me out. I'm quoting Ziller here. Respect for Brunson. It's never been higher. Across the league. He's never made first-team All-NBA. He's never finished higher than number five in MVP voting. And the Knicks haven't been a number one seed in this era. So, Ziller says, imagine New York continues its rampage here. They win 65 games. They look like the repeat favorite. And Brunson is right there competing with Weminyama for MVP. That's the case for Brunson. For most improved. And Ziller then jokingly says, it's either this or Mohamed Diawara. So I love this out-of-the-box thinking here with the Brunson pick. I think OG Ananobi is a more realistic pick. I also think his respect level league-wide is at an all-time high. It's probably right there with Brunson, if we're being honest. He would have to be more selfish offensively. OG would have to crack 20 points per game. And then maintain his status as like one of the best wing defenders in the league. With your Asar Thompsons and your Scotty Barnes and other guys. But OG is one of the best. So maybe more realistic than Brunson. For MIP. People love OG. And want to give him something. He's never won anything, has he? Besides obviously a championship. So give me OG for New York's MIP. The Oklahoma City Thunder. They got a... Two pretty good candidates. Zee notes that he is going with Kaysen Wallace, who is a preseason favorite for defensive player of the year in the non-Wemby category. He's never averaged nine points per game, so it's a low, low bar. And he should see an increased role, Kaysen Wallace should, with Lou Dort gone. And OKC is a very good team, too. I like it. I would take Kaysen Wallace here. AJ Mitchell... Also is entering year three with OKC. He should have more opportunity. The odds have Mitchell at plus 3,000, which is a tick below Wallace at plus 2,500 in the most improved odds. One of those two guys feels like the right Thunder selection. Orlando Magic. Anthony Black, says Ziller. Black's role in Orlando has grown. He's a strong breakout candidate. The biggest roadblock is him scoring goals. over 20 points per game on that roster with Paolo, with Franz, with Bane, with Suggs when he plays. Yeah, it's just tough to have 20, 21 points per game from Black, even though there's been flashes from him. My pick for the Magic, I don't love anyone really on this roster. I mean, I guess I could squint and see Black. Maybe, maybe if Franz becomes the 1A option, Because of an injury to Paolo. Because of a crazy trade. Let's say they break it up. And they give the keys to Franz. He's already had a season where he's averaged 24 points per game. So like. He'd have to be. Like it's. It's sort of. He's sort of like a Trey Murphy the third type here. It's like. Given the opportunity to be the 1A guy. And then going up a level. Okay. Maybe. But you've. People think you're really good already. So that's tough. In this conversation. For this award. So. It's. Anthony Black, maybe you think somebody else. I'm not going freaking Jace Richardson or something like that. Philadelphia 76ers, Ariel Huckporty. Sixers don't have a lot of candidates for MIP. So the thinking here from Ziller is if Embiid misses a bunch of time, if, when Embiid misses a bunch of time, Huckporty could see a lot of minutes. He'll have some opportunity there. Fair, fair reasoning there. I think the same could be said maybe for Dominic Barlow as a bit of a smaller big and he'd get the opportunity. It's not coming from this team. You know, Vijay Ajkom should continue to grow as a player, but that's a stacked roster now. So tough for an improvement in the stats. So Philly's not winning MIP. And maybe if it is one of these guys, one of the big guys, if Embiid or when Embiid goes down. Phoenix Suns, Malawach, says Ziller. Second-year player. What are you doing, Z? He notes, you know, second-year players, not historically great candidates for MIP. But Malawach was very ineffective as a rookie. So super low bar. He's going to get a shot here in Phoenix, we think, with Mark Williams' injury. So I get it. I like Malawach. I think there's still something there. He looked great in Summer League. But what about Oso Iguodoro? as the other option. Maybe all those Malawatch minutes just end up going to him, and he gets more. Could Oso double up his 7-5-2 stat line from last year? Is he a 14-10-4 guy? Probably not. Extremely unlikely. But one of those guys, one of the bigs, is probably the best bet from Phoenix. Couple more teams here. Portland Trailblazers, Scoot Henderson. Ziller says, it's hard to imagine Scoot getting enough reps on the ball with Damian Lillard, John Morant, Danny Avdia, and Drew Holiday here. Yeah. Yeah, it is. But... Dame, Drew, they're aging. John Morant hasn't proven over the last three years that he can actually play more than six or seven straight games. So... You know, maybe. And then Ziller wrote, and I want to get everybody's opinion on this, one factor. It does feel like the media broadly does root for Scoot. I hadn't thought about this. Is this true? Does the media broadly really like Scoot Henderson and back him? I'm not saying I completely disagree. I just had no opinion on this. I'd never heard this. I'd never really thought of it. I trust Ziller's West Coast opinions probably more than mine. So you tell me, do they? Does the media really go to bat for Scoot? I hadn't thought of it. The only other pick I could talk myself into from the Blazers is Tumani Kamara. But I don't think a scoring jump, a significant scoring jump will be there. He averaged 13.5 last year. Now he's going to maintain, I think, his status as like a, where do you put him? Top scorer. I was going to say top 10, at least top 15 defender probably in the league on the wing, easily on the wing, but overall even. So he'd have to really pop. offensively. And I probably don't see that happening. Especially on this weird team. So scoot it is. Sacramento Kings. This is Ziller's team. He goes with Keegan Murray. And I tend to agree with him. I don't have an alternative. His thinking is if Sabonis gets traded, Zach Levine gets bought out, that There's potential for Keegan Murray to be featured as the co-star to rookie Darius Acuff Jr. and maybe average 22, 23 points per game on decent efficiency. Sure, sure. I'm on board with that. Kings are probably going to stink, so that's going to hurt his case, but let's get a bounce back from Keegan Murray. That'd just be fun for everybody, especially Kings fans. Do it for Deuce and Moe and their new dicks that I saw. Congrats to them on that. San Antonio Spurs, he went with Carter Bryant. Ziller is presuming that Castle and Harper are too well-respected after the finals run to get any play here. I don't think that matters. I actually think the opposite. I think it makes the voters more likely that finals run and what we saw in the playoffs to maybe award one of these guys with an award like this. Because the thinking is, from the voters' perspective, we know you're good. We saw you're good. We just want to see it consistently. That's the improvement. And if they do, I think voters would want to give them an award like this. But Ziller thinks, to go back to his pick in Bryant, a second-year guy, again, that Mitch Johnson trusted Bryant in big spots in the playoffs and will get maybe a chance again. Sure. But my pick would be... Ooh, between those two. Hmm. Okay, Harper would have to be like... the second-year flag potential, right? Vegas, by the way, loves Harper's chances at plus 1,200. But he would have to, in the second year, go to all-star level, go to all-NBA level, probably starting in this equation, getting big minutes. And because of that, and because he's a second-year guy, which I don't think is realistic, I'm going to take Castle. He only averaged 16.7 points per game last year, still room for growth. And I also think this will be the era where voters start respecting and rewarding his defense. I think he's one of the best on-ball defenders when it comes to hounding guys. We saw that in the postseason. So I'll take Castle for MIP from the Spurs. Side note here, as I was going through this exercise, could the Spurs damn near sweep all the NBA awards? Hear me out. Let's say Wemby does the honest. He wins MVP and Defensive Player of the Year. That's not even far-fetched. Let's say the Spurs win 65-plus games. They won over 60 last year. This isn't even that far-fetched. They're the number one seed in the league. They win 65, 66 games. Mitch Johnson probably gets coach of the year if they run away or are the clear number one across the league. Castle. powers up, as I've been talking about, as Wemby's number two guy. He goes to 20 points per game. He becomes an all-star, and that gets him enough to win most improved. And then, either Dylan Harper or De'Aaron Fox could win a six-man, whoever comes off the bench. That's a lot of the awards. That leaves Rookie of the Year. Come on, Jaden... Quaintness. Is that his name? I think that's his name. Number 20 pick. You can do it. You can win rookie of the year too. I don't know. Spurs are shaping up like they could take a lot of the hardware. Toronto Raptors. Scotty Barnes says Ziller. He knew I was going to be reading this. Ziller's case is that Barnes can consolidate all the attention, all the rave he got For his playoff performance. And he can go from an all-star. To an all-NBA level. And maybe receive MVP ballot consideration. Sign me up for all of that Ziller. I think a part of this equation. Kawhi would have to. You know. Miss his 25, 30 whatever games. Raptors stay elite. They're one of the better teams in the East. Scottie has never averaged 20 points per game. I couldn't believe. I think he was a 19.9. Per game guy one year. But. He's also a two-time All-Star, so much more difficult to win most improved after you've already been selected to an All-Star team, let alone two. I would love to pick quickly here in this exercise, but I do not think he'll ever be an efficient scorer. So give me Jacoby Walter if I pick somebody else on the Raptors as a ridiculous long shot. You know what they say? He added 10 pounds of muscle only to his upper body. Didn't do a single leg exercise. Utah Jazz. Ace Bailey says, Ziller, hard team to find a candidate. Again, he said Keontae George didn't receive a single vote last season, which is pretty remarkable. Sort of a textbook candidate for MIP when you think about it. He averaged 24-6. But the team stunk. So, again, usually your team's got to be decent. So, Ace Bailey, I like. I would take that pick. I can't talk myself into anybody else. Bryce Sensabaugh. Isaiah Collier, they don't do it for me for this. So I would lean ace. The most hilarious most improved player candidate would probably be Yusuf Nurkic, who I guess is going to start alongside Markanen and Triple J. He's like a 12-year veteran. Can't imagine that's ever happened in most improved winners, being that old. But what? Nurk averaged double-double when he Played in like half the games last year. That'd be the funniest MIP candidate. Now I'm rooting for it. And then finally, the Washington Wizards' Alex Saar, says Ziller, noting that there's a lot of guys to pick from, but he thinks if the Wizards leap up the standings with or without Anthony Davis playing a part, that Saar would be a big factor. Why? Fair. A lot of decent options, though, like he said, and I would echo. Koulibaly, maybe. Trey Johnson and Will Riley, second year guys. So, you know, don't want to do that. So give me Keyshawn George, who is heading into year three. He averaged 15-5-5 before getting injured in April. I don't, well, I don't know if he'll ever be a 20 point per game score. I guess he could be. He's not that far off. But he's an awesome glue guy. Does a bit of everything. I'm pretty confident in saying that I think Keyshawn George will help a team win a championship one day. I don't know if it'll be the Wizards, but He just feels like that perfect guy that's going to be your third, fourth, or fifth best player on a team and just comes through and is just steady as a rock. I feel good about that prediction. So I'll take him as MIP. So there it is. We did all 30 teams. Most improved player candidates for all five teams. For all 30 teams, excuse me. Who did we miss, though? Go ahead and play the What About This Guy game in the comments, as I'm sure you are in the stream team. It's impossible for me to read the stream team while I'm doing this, by the way. So I'm sure you're crapping on all of our picks here, but that's fine. Do you. All right, before I go, we'll be reminding everyone for the month of October, new No Dunks reversible basketball jerseys are for sale. Limited time only. We're talking weeks here and then they're gone for good. You can get them in red with the reverse being white or forest green. Is that a forest green? Sure. Reverse being white. These look awesome. These are sick. I just saw Trey Kirby hit a three-point shot in one of these. Turn around and mug for the camera. You too can hit a three like Trey Kirby in one of these jerseys. So go to nodunks.com. That takes you, by the way, I saw somebody asking, are these legit? They're on BreakingTea.com. Yes, that's who we pair with to make all of our merch. So NoDunks.com will take you to the Breaking Tea site. And then you'll see that jersey. And then you can buy that jersey. And then you can be a superstar in your No Dunks gear. And I would love to see. Look, I'm just throwing it out there. Love to see a team, a complete rec league team, go full No Dunks for a season. Go win the chip. I just want to see a photo holding the trophy, all those jerseys. And if you do, if somebody does that, We'll send you something. I'll just... I'll send you something here from the factory or my place or whatever. All right, guys. Appreciate you joining me. Our No Dunks 2026-27 NBA Season Preview Series tips on Wednesday. Over-under predictions time. We will very likely start with the Eastern Conference. Why? I don't know. We always do. And then on Friday, we'll do the West. The following week, we'll do our first-time All-Stars draft. That's always fun. We'll do awards predictions. I mean, jeez, I just went Where do I go here? 40 minutes plus on MIP. We'll do all the other awards. Talk those out with the guys. We'll do tiers. We'll do burning questions. Ain't nobody do season preview like we do at No Dunks. This will be what? Year 21? I can never keep track and then everybody always gets mad at me. Is it 20, 21, 22? I don't know. It's long. We've been around forever. So the least you can do is hit the like button, subscribe, five-star ratings and reviews. Thanks to everybody who joined me live here on a Saturday. Thanks for watching later. Thanks for listening. And again, we'll see you next week. Oh yeah, Clipper Bros. You heard it here first. Have a great time. Turn it up. Love you guys. Awesome. I nearly forgot about Clipper Bro. It's been devastating. Brace the weekend, people.
