Hoops & Hilarity: The Awards Show ESPN Wishes It Could Air

all right. Second part of the pod, part two. Sunday evening. You know what time it is. Front runner podcast collective is back on the air. I am your humble host, vince. I am with the silent assassin, serea. She will be. You are listening to part two.

First, there is a part one to this whole deal. Go back and listen to it. It is awesome. This is part two where we are going to start with some awards. We're going to start with because the rooks took, took it on the chin this year and I want to show them some love.

I was down on the 2024 nba draft class. They were like oh my god, this guy, this guy, what is this? I don't know. Did I see we a star out of this group? We told you, we told you back before the draft. This was a draft of role players. You might get somebody who can start, but they're not going to be in your top 1, 2, 4, 5 starters. These are your 6 men. This might be your 7th man. Hell, it might be your 8th Over this year. Death matters If you have depth, if you have wings, if you have stuff, and they can do things like shoot, pass the ball, play a little defense. These people work out and they are additive to your team. So, antonio, own stefan castle.

Stefan castle this year, the only rookie who has looked like a player to you right now. Uh, framework a shot. I need to put it in that type of dude top three in usage, in minutes, in scoring and steals among rookies, close, all-star great. Nearly 20 points a game, averaged a night. 5 plus assists a night. Nearly 57% true shooting percentage on heavy usage. And again, he is a rookie. His defense is violent, the poise very veteran, like, let me say this, she is nodding right now. I'm going to say this Just stay afloat. He scaled this and just stay afloat. He scaled. This is what separates rotation guys for real deal playoff pieces. And this is one of the guys who showed us that he was not just going to be just some random. It's a real dude. It's a real dude who plays good, solid basketball. Some inefficiencies, but you had to expect that for a rookie. But to see the numbers and see light bulb go on in the second half of the year, we like that, just all our.

That was a horrific fall that he had the other night. He has a broken wrist. Obviously he is out. The year is over, damn near, in a sense, for our guy jaylen wells. This is good. Um, you, jay, hey jay, you did your thing. Dog, yeah, hey man, you ain't got nothing else to prove. But we send our love, we send our energy and we send our prayers to jaylen wells. Get well, player. Uh, go ahead, rehab, get yourself together and, uh, man, just man. Prayers up to that guy. That was a bad fall and it sounded nasty when he hit the ground.

So, rookie and you start to start, we're gonna trade like double digit vet years in the league. You know, marcus smart, I've been in a bunch of playoff games. I've been in eastern conference finals and stuff like that. I've been in championships games. Marcus smart, we don't need you player cuz we got Jaylen Wells. Wells isn't loud, but his game wins plus 185 in his plus-minus on a team that had no business staying competitive. Every lineup with him was better. So raya calls him the grown-up.

In a rookie class full of tiktokers I play defense. He knows how to uh, mirror the offensive player. He is instinctual in passing lanes, he is a good shooter and he's like six foot six and he's long, lanky and quiet as hell and just hey, man, I'm here in the corner when you need me. I'm gonna hit the shot when you need me, incredibly efficient for somebody his age. So we show love to jaylen wells other memphis grizzlies. Show love to jaylen wells of the memphis grizzlies we move along to we, we. We are going to hit our french contingency of the podcast. Do I need to talk in french, in a french accent, the whole time?

Oh, zachary richard of the atlanta hawks, I love this kid. I think zach might be the cleanest shooter in the 35 and 75. Use. You might scoff at these numbers, but this is a rookie. This is also a rookie who is 19 years of age. He is super young. He's held up physically, he doesn't get bullied and his spacing, his transition d and his length that's your playoff wing baseline. Anything else is a bonus. And guess what? He think it's there? I see it. I don't know. I think it'll be better on second side. I don't think it should be primary down on him in the corner. He had no problem putting it on the deck, going right past you and going to the hole and putting up nice lays, nice dunks. Shoot it out to an open shooter. He had it. So zachary richet is on this list. Zachary research of the atlanta hawks, you deserve to be on this list, my man.

Another guy who is on this list is kalel ware of the miami heat 14 double doubles, huge blocks, post all-star break. He's closing games. When was the last time you trusted a rookie center? Rim protection, soft hands, the three-point shooting is not bad. This is jerry allen. If he had a jumper and a little nasty in it he does have a little nasty in him he might have. Well, jared island has a beautiful uh fro, so he's good.

But we like khalil where this is a guy that we were worried about coming out of the draft and we thought, just like jalen johnson a couple years ago, we thought it was really imperative that he went to the right organization. And when kalel kalel ware went to miami I was like, oh man, I was like this can go one or two ways. He's either going to be coached up or coached out, or doubt. He looks like he could be an integral. He dunks, he shoots threes. He is a weak side nightmare.

Last guy on this list is alex saar of the washington wizards now. So sar has not had like this, like crazy good season and whatever. But let me tell you something, man. It's been a couple months. It's been a couple months and anytime you see somebody who's seven feet tall, you like mmm that nice. Now here's the thing. There's been wild swings, only five rookies with.

Alex r is one of those dudes. I still think he's a complete project. He needs to put weight on. He did not get to the rim well, and when he did get to the rim he did not finish well, but I saw enough to go. I'm intrigued. I'm intrigued by this.

So who is our rookie of the year? I'm gonna give it to the guy. I think that has the greatest upside. I'm gonna give it to Stephon Castle. Stephon Castle proved to a lot of people because remember he was a guy who was this, saying I'm a point guard coming out of UConn. Now I'm gonna do that. He got to San Antonio, saw Chris Paul. I am Offensive creation wing Second side type dude. My man knew how to play the hits and he knew how to play the hits good. So Stephon Castle Is our FRPC Rookie of the year. Congrats to Stephon Castle. Congrats to Pura Vida Nation out there.

I love y'all down on the Riverwalk, even though Charles Barkley be talking about Get on to some other stuff that we need to get to, because check this out, we got another FRPC award of the nba award, the hooker's version of going platinum online. Not mvps, just clip gods hoop cinema with remix energy. You can drop 40 in real life, but nobody clipped. It didn't even happen. That is the landscape we live in nowadays, folks and serea told me this, she did say this, she said replay value. These dudes don't just hoop, they export in 1080, make laugh so good. Good on her. All right, so these are our tiktok mixtape darlings, and let's get to it.

Uh, number one on this list is our guy, for many a reason, anthony edwards of the minnesota timberwork on everybody, and he is taking bodies this year that have been out of this world and he doesn't care if you outweigh him by 60 pounds, he does not care if your wingspan is seven foot five and what the hell you talking about, because all he sees is the rim, air and opportunity to embarrass you. Then we talk about and Edwards, as just a quote brought up in the last couple weeks, little immaturity, didn't like that part, didn't like that part at all, but we cannot we cannot deny the aura that surrounds our guy and Edwards. So we salute you on being one of the candidates we got him. Who knew our every dates with him. Hoop Noir every mid post touch feels like a jazz solo the pace, the pause, the pull up.

K Hoops like he's a Barry Jenkins short. Let me give you the stats on him 46% in his mid-range. He he's a 28% usage rate and he's a league leader in slow motion edits With moody overlays. Yeah, people love him. They love to put him Because his sauce game, his bag is filthy. Can't wait to see him in the playoffs Be part of that. He had a bunch of 30-point triple-doubles. There are a lot of high-rebound, high-assist games. He gives the Pistons what they need every single night that he is on that court. They need every single night that he is on that court. And also he is also the emotional of sounding board and kind of allowing beastu to kind of like he's his volume. I guess his volume. Yeah.

The next guy on this list is, uh, jalen williams of the okc thunder best layout package since kairi. And I said that his euro step is like ballet, his scoops it's like cgi. True shooting percentage on tiktok are just going viral because people are out here saying, oh, jalen williams a problem? Oh, nobody wants jalen williams smoke. Then you get like the, the you know like some of that, like dramatic music, and then they hit you with like the. You know the boom at the end and everything like that.

Jalen williams is all over these Internet's, he's all over them. So we got K, we got ant, we got Jalen Williams. Who else do we need? Because he jumps, he floats into breaks. His euro step is nice, you know saying. And when he gets the ball off the glass, which he does that at a 13.5 rebound percentage as a wing, he also has a 4, 4.0 box, plus or minus, he's a one. He's a one-man fast break, all by himself. I love it. And he also chased down people, which is great. So I love it. I love Mee-Sum and Amu Thompson.

Now, who should win this award? I don't know where's win this award by a mile. Nobody got more swag than Anthony Edwards. What am I talking about? What we doing right now and the air was is great mixtapes, sound bites, dunks, movies you need to do rap videos, play football, all kinds of stuff. Let's move on to our next award. Shall we, shall we, shall we? Our next award is the most improved player award. This is the n NBA award most improved player. To me it's supposed to be a field goal award. The surprise guy, the late bloomer, the player who we do the film, we don't do, flaky cane, irreplaceable. So this year we're doing it our way and this year we got co-most improved players of the year. But let's give you our candidates. First, we got to give you our candidates. You know what I'm saying? Give you these candidates.

I want to show love to Denny Abdiah of the Portland Trailblazers and I want to tell you why this is a kid that I was real high on when he cameah of the Portland Trailblazers and I want to tell you why this is a kid that I was real high on. When he came out of the draft uh, from Israel, he was on a shitty Washington team no offense to the guys who are running it now about to go ahead and draft high and the rebuild process is going on. He had the ball in his hands. They did not give him those opportunities. He lost confidence and I thought we were gonna lose him. And then last year we saw, we saw rumblings. We saw rumblings last year and this year I am here to tell you 16.9 points per game, 7.3 rebounds per game, career, got a confident shot, profile, project potential. He's a blue guy, importantly needed a win, like Denny Obdia. So, yes, he's our guy. I wanted to give him some love because he has made a huge leap and he went from obscurity being on the Wizards to being on Portland and doing incredible work on his game and it shows on the court. So, give big up now.

We got to go to the atl and we talked about him. We almost gave him this trophy okay, we almost did, but, um, here's the things that I do want to say about him. He has so much. First of all, he was part of the dejante murray trade. Dejante murray goes to new orleans. They, they, uh decide to get rid of the two point guard system that they were using in atlanta. They moved dejantee Murray and one of the pieces back that they get is Dyson Daniels, now trying to see things, things are starting to happen and, lo and behold, he goes on this incredible opportunity.

Let me break down some of these numbers for you. So Dyson Daniels who is, by the way, only 22 years of age, okay, 14.1 points a game, 5.9 rebounds per game, 4.4 assists per game and a league leading three steals on the nose per game, 33 minutes. He damn near shot 50 from the field, 49 points. Play defense he's good, uh, pro scout, um, and also development of this young man. Now, next guy on this list is peyton. Is peyton pritchard of the Celtics. And why is he on this list? Because when you are getting a positive 3.4 box plus minus from your sixth man and his warp is 3.0. And he has a true shooting percentage of 63.3 percent and 73 of your field goals are three point attempts, he made sure that boston could never ignore him again because he came off the bench shooting this dude getting mad attempts up At that three ball. So Peyton Pritchard Could be a starter on a lot of teams. He got a lot of sauce in his bag and he is going to be a playoff weapon, like he was last year.

Now we get to Avita Zubas of the Los Angeles Clippers guy. I'm gonna talk Clippers and Celtics love. Today Zubats made a grown man leap. Let's just be 100% crystal clear on what Avita Zubats has become. This dude is is a top five center in the league. I point blank. He didn't just change who he was, he made who he was elite box plus minus 3.0 win shares per 48 .21 regular player 3.3. He is the rebounding king for the NBA BOLodes and his true shooting percentage is 60 is 64. He held up on switches, he guarded the post, he got a ton of rebounds. He got lobbed some james harton he had baby hooks. He punished people in the post when they threw littles on him. He was a bully, he was a brute and we loved every second of

it. Now for the next guy on our list ty jerome of the cleveland cavaliers is the frpc soul pick, if you know. You know and here we've been watching c favorite for the longest period of time couldn't make it there two years, couldn't get no burn, but in those two years there was one little point in time where we saw the vision. We saw it because, even though it was a small sample size, let me tell you this number and then you kind of get the. You'll get the vision about what we about to talk about. Okay, so his first stint in okay, see, he had a pick and roll. Okay, see, he had a pick and roll number. That was truly outrageous. His points off pick and roll was

one. Now, guys like Shea Gildress, alexander, they do a lot of pick and rolls. Oh, donovan Mitchell, he does a lot of pick and rolls. Oh, donovan mitchell, he does a lot of picking rolls. One point, one point, one point, one, one points per possession. He was almost a full point. Better so it was. It was harbinger of things to come right. It was harbingers of things to

come. And here's the thing. This year, ty drum okay, he don't play a lot of minutes, but he get him up 14.3 points per game, 4.1 assists per game, 43.9 of 64.3 over 48.2 point. Uh, 0.203, which is 20 percent assist presented. 24.4 percent turnover rate, 11.9. He k handles the basketball. He's fred van vliet and brogdon put together with a little more sauce in the back. That's what he is. So his leap isn't loud, it's logical. We saw it coming and now here it

is. So who is the most improved player? Who are the guys that I think deserve this award? I'm gonna split it. I'm gonna split Ty Jerome of the Cleveland Cavaliers. So Ty Jerome and Avisa Duvac are, to me, the most improved players in the league, not just because of the fact that they have more points and all this. They were conducive to winning and the changes that they made to their game were so complimentary to the, to the team and also to the success of what the team was doing. So that's why there's a tie

now. We move along because we've been. We've been burning daylight, yo. We've been getting after it. We've been killing people, we've been letting people know about these wars. All this we told you about zoo watch. We told you about time Pritchard Daniels, we need to get to the Kendrick. Y'all know. Y'all know what. This is the biggest beef award. That's what this is about. Who got the biggest beefs in the league? I'm just letting you know this is not for the young at

heart. Okay, so you're going to hear some things, probably in this part of the podcast that are hard to hear. Just telling you our first nominee for to south beach. We have to go. There's a lot of beautiful latina women floating around. There's a lot of fancy cars and a lot of flamingos and a lot of pink and there's a lot of neon. But you know what there wasn't a lot of this year? There wasn't a lot of joy. Jimmy butler gets on a post press conference stage and says I have lost my joy and the intrepid reporter I wish I knew his name had the greatest follow-up question or answer here in Miami and Jimmy said no, no, I don't think so. I don't think I can do it. I think my joy has extinguished

here. Then we got three suspensions. We had Jimmy at coffee shops Talking down Pat Riley. And then we have the trade to the Golden State warriors where they get andrew wiggins and some other stuff back and some other stuff and some other stuff. But it was as a old time g during the. The uh press conference during the trade does not mention Jimmy Butler in the press conference. He is known as player, the player in question, jimmy, didn't get traded, he got erased. It's like a breakup with severance. Riley ran a clinic of nonverbal communication to not even say his name of a guy who took you to two finals. But he also Matt Hardy type stuff in TNA. Some delete got deleted. But then he resurfaced at in the bay. His joy came back. Isn't that

great? The second beef of the year is lebron versus steven. Out of this. Y'all remember that. Let's go back, steven. I implore you as a father, don't do this to your son. The gron saw him at a liquor gang and told that man, hey man, let me tell you something you want to talk about him as a player. You want to say he's trash or whatever, go ahead. But as soon as you start questioning my ever been in in trouble with the public whatsoever, really, a couple bad decisions here and there, the decision, all that, oh, whatever, I'll grant you that. Oh, don't ever do

that. So what does stephen a smith do? He goes on a almost like a book tour. He's going on every podcast, every tv monitor. He was everywhere monitor. He was everywhere boys about lebron? Oh, he is, and he's mad because I won't kiss the ring. I'll miss, do, do, do, do whatever lebron says. Okay, hour plus long interview. I'm going to clown the shit out of stephen a smith. I'm going to clown the shit out of Stephen A Smith. Then I'm going to cover up my pettiness to say, oh, I really needed their studio to do my podcast with one of the greatest point guards who have won a cover-up to Pat McAfee and the Stephen a Smith destruction. But I just want to tell you, checkmate, lebron

James. Now the next beef also includes ESPN. Espn, out here catching strays. Okay, they are catching strays now. Tnt, the long-standing greatest like, just lead into a to a to a game, and man though there. Well, sometimes he doesn't win going to the board. You know how it is. But tnt doesn't have the rights to basketball anymore, so their post-game show was in

jeopardy. Long comes espn. Well, they've had a problem since, the exception of them having basketball. They just didn't know how to control a, a television setting. And I'm not trying to be mean. What I'm trying to say is that you're not giving enough time for people to really flesh out their, their thought process, and if you only have like 45 seconds to get out something like listen, I need you to explain to me why, um, why kevin durant tonight, who had a guy who was five inches shorter than him, you know, couldn't get more than 12 shots up. Sometimes these explanations take. That's why I do a

podcast. So, with that being said, tnt has launched a just a verbal assault against espn, talking about we had to come over there to save y'all because we're so great, and you guys are just trash in your uh post game, uh tv show. And then there's bars back talking about you guys don't even watch the games. You're running down players. You're running down the new NBA. We're about grinding the tape and you guys about the chuckles. Well, their ratings say they're coming over to ESPN and espn is paying a pretty penny for them. So I think they

won. Our last guy in this situation is isaiah. Basically, he's having a beef with pretty much everybody sanity, the nba, people who wear blue, people who wear gray, people who wear do rags, people who wear, um, uh, fanny packs, people who give towels to him I don't know man, he's wow tight, he just wow, real, real tight. You know, I'm saying he might have just got ejected and they're not even playing right now, I don't know. Still, he, he I wonder if he is um, in a sense, kind of slow playing an interview for the ww shouts out to our guy b stew, we love you beef, stay out of trouble, stay out. Hey, stay out the stance, stay out the stance, dog, don't do it, don't do

it. Who gets the beef of the year who gets the, the vaunted kendrick lamar versus drake award? I personally believe that the team or the entity that gets this award is none other than jimmy butler and pat riley. You know why? Because it reminds me is definitely having the last laugh, because he's going to the playoffs and they got a legitimate shot and the miami, the kendrick lamar drake award goes to jimmy butler and pat ronald. So hallelujah, praise the lord, now six man of the year

award. This is for the dude that comes off the bench. Just hot, just scorching, hot, scoring points. I'm gonna do all kinds of stuff for you. Why am I on the bench? Anyway? Because I'm nice, you know. I'm saying that's what we're going at. Listen, this is, this is not gonna be real hard, we're not gonna. We're going to kill this one. Peyton Pritchard went through off the bench with what he did in Cleveland. But I want to spend some of this time on a guy who is doing it big in Detroit Malik

Beasley. 81 games, 14.2 points per game. 81 games, 14.2 points per game, 46.7% from three-point land. And you would say, well, he's shooting a high percentage. But how many threes is he actually taking, vince? I'm glad you asked that question. My man is taking like seven a game, bro. He getting them up. He did all this in this game. He's not a starter, he just crush a lot. You know what I'm saying? Shout out there's not, there's not a single bench player in the league that can match that type of volume plus accuracy combo from

three. And he played in 81 games, durability, the consistency and the green light execution. That's real, that's real production and it couldn't have been just music to jb bickerstaff's ears, because you know what he was looking for when he got that job he was looking for shooters. He was looking for shooters. I got this bad boy in k cunningham who can be a mid-range assassin, who can be a six 6 round on him with shooters. And Malik Beasley came out the crowd and said Sir, I am the one of three point shooting. I am the one that they were talking about, that the elders were talking about. Let me show you the way he did so. Sarray says this about our god

beasley. Beasley is what the award is you what it used to be high volume, high swag, heat check royalty. If this was 2013, he's a lock. I would agree with that. I would agree with that. But you know what your boy vince is into nostalgia. Your boy vince is a old and I say bring back

2013. Malik Beasley is the sixth man of the year. Congratulations to me. Every time you hit the three point shot, my man Talking trash. Love it. I love all of it. Do you Big Clay Boy? Now, I love this

award. Front office thief of the year. Theme chess moves, casual mess, this is gonna be espionage, this is gonna be high entry, this is gonna be all kinds of stuff that we need to talk about. So let's talk about it. First up is Dyson Daniels. Okay, now, lynn, you know I'm saying I'm not gonna get into all of

it. I just I knew what Travis was trying to do and I thought that he was in. He was impeded by certain things in that organization. Now I don't know what landry fields got, but whatever he got, he is absolutely working it to a t. I love the deal that he got for dyson daniels. I love the progression and was not able to finish the season season ending, injury but you can see. You can see the outline of a really aggressive wing heavy team that surrounds trey young and I think for the first time for the first time I think we might have found a formula that can support trey young in atlanta. And then he, his ability, trey young's ability to get off the ball, which he has a dice, and daniels being a three steals a game and he's in new orleans sitting on the bench not doing too much of anything. All of a sudden he gets 30, he gets 20, some odd minutes of playing time, he got three. This is this is absolute highway robbery at his best love. That now we got to get to something that a not a lot of people are talking about. We got to get to something that not a lot of people are talking about and I love this organization and I don't want to pile on because they've had a bad. They've had a bad month, let's just say it the memphis

grizzlies. I want to take you back. And and the reason why I want to take you back? Because you know what the the last one is okay. Everybody knows what the last one is okay. Let me take you back to the trade headline. Let me just take you

back. So you trade Marcus Smart to the Washington Wizards and you give up draft picks, but it wouldn't nothing. Oh, you got two second round picks back. Johnny Davis doesn't. Oh, they got Marvin Bagley. The third. That's who the. The second person was another person who does not play for you. So you traded a guy who was a veteran. By the way, john Moran needs veterans on his team to regulate who he is. You trade a veteran who game because he's providing he provided some leadership in Washington plays played pretty well. You give up picks for it and you get nothing in return, like nothing. You get nothing in

return. By the way, jake laravia went out in that deal and I'm gonna tell you this was a cost-cutting move to stay underneath the salary cap. They didn't want to pay the tax. That's why they did it. It was a pure. You just need to get attention for that. They needed to get attention for that. Kudos for washington and sacramento, because sacramento got jake laravia in that deal and they were just doing nothing, just sitting on the sidewalk playing with their little like bouncy ball, and then they were like, hey, you want to be part of a trade. They're like I don't know what we're talking about. Oh, we, we're gonna give you jake larabee, all right. But if we're talking about thievery, if we're talking about actual, we're talking about just complete. We're talking about just complete like high-level

theft. Look no further than Los Angeles, california, and also Dallas, texas, right, luka Doncic, rob Palenka is the winner of this award. Let's make no mistake about it. You got Rob, you got played. Son Nico Harrison, you got played Like a fiddle. Okay, here's the thing We've talked up and down this trade, up and down, up and down, up and down, up and

down. I don't care about the trade itself. I love luka donchins, that's great. Whatever, I care about the package they got back. So you tell me, in a world where you're trading luka donchins and you're trading them to the lakers, okay, yeah, you get anthony davis back, all right cool. You get max christie back all right,

cool. How about austin reeves? Did you ask for him? Did you ask for all their first round picks? Did you ask for the pick swaps? Did you ask for the curtains Over Ebenezer Scrooge's bed? Did you ask for the cufflinks? No, no, no. You tried to keep it on the low, low, that's what you told him. Yeah, man, we need to keep this on the low. Nobody get worried of this, because it's so incredibly stupid for a full pick and annually, a year, through

2026. It is a top five value contract in the league. Everybody in the league wants this deal, everybody wants it. The league wants this deal, everybody wants it. And you didn't get it and you gave up a top three player. Good luck, people. People bother me, they do. All right, y'all wrap this up. We getting close to the end, I am sure of it. And yes, we are here. We are at our most prestigious. It's here and we have candidates and we gonna go through

them. Most valuable player. Used to me one thing best player, best team, best season. One side is numbers, one side is narrative and the one, the only one. The only way to win is to pick two or three of these things and whatever. But a lot of these guys have a case. A lot of these guys have stats. A lot of these things and whatever. But A lot of these guys have a case. A lot of these guys have stats. A lot of these guys have had incredible seasons. Some have had historic seasons. So let's get to it Right. And we are going to start With who I think is a candidate and he doesn't get a lot of

love. Jason Tatum is on this list for me and because people will say, well, vince, his efficiency this year has been shit. Why do you like him as a MVP candidate? And I'll tell you why. He's tied with another guy, but I want to give him love for this. He has been the steady engine of the boston celtics all year. He can't get purple, so purple soul paint touches it's him. And then he's kicking out to people who are wide ass open for three. Okay, 4.7. Box plus minus, his win share is 9.5. Yeah, he's not flashy, but if you want precision, you want conciseness, you want dependability because he but, by the way, he gonna show up every damn night and play every damn night and he ain't gonna complain, he ain't gonna cry about whistles and all this other and he ain't gonna try to use other nonsense. So, jason Tatum, you are in elite

company. My guy, anthony Edwards, is also on this list and, um, I don't think he is going to win, but I want to recognize him with Jason Tatum. The reason why he is on this list is because he has takeover, injury, energy, any in a cultural moment. Here's the thing. What I'll say about this is is this we have been hard on him of late, but on the court his box plus minus is 4.2. His vorp was

4.4. This year is a career high. He's taken more threes this year because he wanted to make sure that he was a more well-rounded player. He's also been the de facto point guard for most of the year. Let's be honest. Mike conley jr has slowed down. Yes, he's still the adult in the room when needed, but a lot of the playmaking is coming from anthony edwards. So let's be clear about what's going on here. And naz reed had a good year, and also rudy gobert had a good year, and they don't have good years unless anthony edwards is doing his thing. So shots out to love. That's our

guy. Now let's get to the real, real candidates of this thing, and I'm gonna start off in Milwaukee, I'm gonna start off in the land of cheese, and that's with Giannis Antetokounmpo. By the way, this got her 35 point 35 point. 1% usage, 67 point 4 true shooting percentage. Hey, when we talk about there's levels to this, remember what I said about ants box plus minus, right, yannis antetokounmpo's box plus minus 9.5, his vort 6.6. And if there is no Giannis Antetokounmpo, this is a lottery team. No shade, he is the straw that stirs the

drink. Whatever analogy you want to use, cliche you want to use, he has been it. This is 2012. Lebron esque, best player alive, type shit going on right there with this dude. So now do you know? He's up there and I hold him in a high regard. Now we need to get to the two guys that everybody's been talking about, and we're going to talk about Shea Gilgis Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder. He's a storm. He's a storm that keeps coming. You think it's slowing down, but it's not. He just continues to put pressure on you. He continues Always

probing. Other Than Steph Curry, shea Gildress Alexander has the most miles on him 1850 minutes minutes. You would say, hey, wait, why is he not over like 2000? Cause they blow people out. So four quarter he's chilling. Hold on, I need some water. Almost lost my voice right there, crazy right. So he leads the league in steals, nba steals, killing it. They're the number one

seed. Historic net rating historic historic, it's not, not, it's. You know how other people drop 20, it's no big deal. He drops 30, it is no big deal. And he doesn't do it by slamming the, dunking the ball a lot. He is balletic as all get out. His body control is unnatural and he's so graceful you just want to put like feel harmonic music behind him. So shea gilgis alexander is another candidate for this award, and the last guy on this list is Nikola

Jokic. Now, nikola Jokic this year. That's Nikola Jokic. His VORC was 9.7. So that's victories over replacement players. He's worth 10 dudes. He's worth 10 dudes and y'all can't put anything around

him. This is a wasted season for nicola yokich because calvin booth and michael malone couldn't play nice in the damn sand in the sandbox, because there's booth guys and there's malone guys. Are you kidding? He's played in 69 games guys. Are you kidding? He's played in 69 games. Okay, whatever, I mean 70 games. Still a lot of games. Double. Yeah, he's not averaging the same amount of points as shea gilchrist alexander, but he's contributing to winning every single possession because he's controlling every single possession. By the way, the on off numbers with Nicola Jokic are absolutely insane. It's a 18 point difference when he's on the court and when he's off the court. When he's on the court and when he's off the court, he's only off the court for eight

minutes. So I understand a lot of people will sit here and say absolutely, this is shea gilchrist alexander year. He should. He's the runaway mvp. But before you say that it is the most valuable player, it is not who the best player is. It's the most valuable player now, with all that being said and I made a good strong argument for our guy nicola yelkich and I made a good strong argument for our guy Nikola Jokic but Shea Gilgis Alexander is the MVP of the NBA and here's why we talked about the net rating Plus 66. There's not a lot of air up there we're talking about. We're talking about Everest Okay, that up there, we're talking about. We're talking about everest okay, that's what we're talking about. The other thing is this he led that

team. Um, I do believe that they have a, but I also have been critical or not critical, questioned the youth of Chet and also Jalen Williams. So, knowing that you are the number one target, you're on everybody's whiteboard. Everything is geared to stop you and you drop 36 nonchalantly every single night and your team wins 68 games. Of course you are don't know. Xander frpc crowns you as the nba mvp. Good luck in the playoffs. My guy will be

watching. So, with that being said, we have given you awards about the great white americans in the in the league. We've given you awards about the people who are on their in people's dms and throwing salt on their name and stuff like that. We giving you awards about thievery. We've given you awards about most improved players. We give you everything today. I am grateful to the audience that live on your face and this time we're putting a smile on your face three times in the week because, little pod tuesday, we'll be going over the playoffs and we'll be going over the teams in the east, and also the teams in the east who are now not in the playoffs, and what they're going to do right. Also, we'll be back on this feed on friday and we'll be doing the same thing for the

west. And, with all of that being said, I want to thank my producer, sareb, for incredible notes in this pod. I want to thank my entire crew because this, and I want to thank God. I want to thank everyone involved, because I can't do it without God. I just talked for two hours. I'm tired, so I know I didn't do this by myself. So, with that being said, surround yourself with people who lift you up, push you forward and remind you who you are. And if you have got folks like that, celebrate them, text them, hug them, let them know they matter, because growth hits different when you're surrounded by love, support and real ones. And if you're building that kind of podcast collective, you got a seat here. Thank you.