Goeiedag, enchantée and welcome to this week's episode of Eight 2 Four presents: All-NBA Team of the Week. Voting season is upon us, with the All-Star weekend only about a month away. First we get flooded with fan votes until the players and media get their say. Now that we’ve entered the NBA silly season, we are starting to see players putting in their applications for an All-Star selection on the court. Some of them are pretty much guaranteed a spot already, like LeBron and Steph. For others, it could become difficult to even make it in this year’s selection, like for Julius Randle of the Knicks and Trae Young in Atlanta. In our show this week, we have picked 5 players that are really knocking down the All-Star door, looking for a selection. I’m Peter Peake and this is your All-NBA Team of the Week!
PICK #1
Our first pick of the week is Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies. Ja is by far the most spectacular player in the league today. As preparation for this show, I was watching the Grizzlies play the Indiana Pacers and he is just incredible. The dunks, the block, the vision, you name it, Ja can do it all. The dunks are incredible, especially the slam on Jalen Smith was amazing. I mean, the dude is 7 inches or 20 centimetre taller than Morant and he has no problems getting that ball through the hoop. But most of all, I enjoy his chase-down blocks the most. He had another one today, this time on rookie Bennedict Mathurin. He thought he had beaten Steven Adams on the fastbreak and there comes Ja, out of nowhere, and he jumps so high he almost hits the backboard (that wouldn’t be the first time) and blocks the ball about halfway up the backboard. I don’t usually like to include play-by-play information in my shows but with Ja I have no option. The guy is a human highlight reel.
In 25 minutes against the Pacers, he finished with 25 points and 10 assists and didn’t have to come off the bench for the last quarter. And that’s about his average for the season too, with 27 points and 8 assists in about 32 minutes per game. And believe it or not, he’s not having his best season yet. I think Ja is still looking for his optimal form. Yes, his numbers are about the same as last year, but I don’t get the same feeling of fulfilment watching him. I think he can do better again. He only just sneaks into the top 10 of most points scored per game, and scores about 7 points per game less than leader Luka Doncic. I mean, he doesn’t need to be a high volume scorer, because unlike Luka, Ja is surrounded by quality players that are all very capable of scoring themselves.
It might be a bit of a surprise that one of my players of the week only played in 2 of their 4 games this week, but I had no choice but to choose a Grizzlies player. They have won 9 games in a row now, and are tied with the Nuggets for the number 1 spot in the West. Both teams are finally putting some space between them and the rest, getting us all excited for a potential Jokic vs Ja matchup in the Western Conference Finals. Imagine Ja posterizing Jokic, that would be one for the history books. This could be the year for Memphis, especially while the other candidates to take out the West, like the Warriors, Dallas and Phoenix are struggling to win consistently. And if there’s one player sticking out in Memphis, it’s Ja. There’s no doubt about that.
PICK #2
Our second pick of the week is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder. He has done it, Sam Presti has built another incredible young team in Oklahoma City. After Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Serge Ibaka, we now have SGA, Josh Giddey, Jalen Williams and perhaps Chet Holmgren or even Victor Wembanyama. But a lot of things will need to go right for them to end up with Vic. The Thunder are currently sitting in 11th spot in the West, just outside the Play-In spots and they are much closer to home court advantage in the Playoffs than they are to the bottom 5 teams in the league that have all at least 10% chance of getting that number 1 spot.
OKC is in that weird spot now, where they are too good to tank but not quite good enough to get to the Playoffs. Sorry, let me rephrase that. They are good enough to get to the Playoffs, but not good enough to make it out of the first round. And sometimes, for these young teams, it’s not that valuable to get your asses kicked in the first round. You’re better off waiting another year and become a bit more competitive. Holmgren’s injury has put a hold on the Thunder for another year, which is annoying because with SGA, they have one of the most exciting players of the league this year in their ranks.
Shai is averaging over 30 points per game, adding 5 assists per game to that, and he’s just so incredible to watch. In fact, it has been so good that he has been getting attention from fans all over the league, popping up in the All-Star voting. He’s currently sitting in 4th in the fan votes for the Western Conference backcourt, behind Steph, Luka and Ja. That’s some pretty amazing company he is in. He’s beating out usual suspects like Klay Thompson, Damian Lillard, Devin Booker and Russell Westbrook. OKC needs to do whatever they can to keep SGA happy in Oklahoma City, because he’s the kind of guy you want to build a franchise around. And now that they’ve added all those young potential stars, I believe they are almost ready to unleash their potential on the league, even if it comes at the cost of another number 1 pick.
PICK #3
Our third pick of the week is Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics. Sometimes things can be very simple. Jayson Tatum is the best player on the best team. Has played the most games so far for the Celtics this season and is performing better than in previous years. His numbers have improved again and he is becoming stronger and stronger on the court each season. He is your clear MVP and should be the first name on the All-Star ballot. Turns out that this is not the case, basketball reference doesn’t even have him in the top 3 of the MVP and in most cases, including mine, he is the odd one out when choosing between Giannis, Embiid, KD and Tatum for the Eastern Conference frontcourt spots. But that might change now that KD is injured, chances are he won’t even make it to the All-Star game anyway.
But that’s not my point. The point I’m trying to make is that nobody’s career in the NBA is looked upon the same way. For example, Giannis and Jokic both won 2 MVPs before they won anything with their teams. In Jokic's case, he’s even set to win a third MVP before even winning the Western Conference. Then there’s others, like Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant, who had to win first before they were even considered in the MVP race. And with names like Russell Westbrook and James Harden on the MVP list, you just know that outstanding individual performances are better received than being the best player on the best team in the NBA. I think that Tatum fits in with the Tim Duncan’s of the NBA. He is an exceptional player, and will do what it takes to win as a team. The best kind of superstar a team can have to win. But that goes at the cost of individual accolades. I’m not a fan of that idea, but it’s the reality we live in.
JT is in his 6th year in the league, mind you he’s not even 25 yet, and in the previous 5 he has made it to the Conference Finals 3 times and the NBA Finals once, last season. Chances are that he will add another NBA Finals to his tally this season, maybe even the ring. Obviously, it’s not a given that the Celtics will make the Conference Finals every season, and Tatum has to make sure he starts to take advantage of his opportunities, but if he looks after himself, he probably has another good 10, maybe even 15 years in the league. At the rate he’s going now, he’s on track to break Kareem’s record of most appearances in a conference final. That currently sits at 13.
PICK #4
Our fourth pick of the week is Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat. The Heat are slowly starting to wake up out of their early season slumber, they’re starting to win games, climb the standings and are finally looking like some sort of a basketball team. This, not coincidentally, is happening at the same time that Jimmy Butler has been able to put his longest stretch of games together since the start of the season. He missed a couple games 8 games into the season, and hasn’t been able to play a meaningful stretch since. Until now, the 2nd game of the double header against Milwaukee (2 games the Heat won, by the way) marked Butler’s 7th game in a row, and the third straight win for the Heat. There is something about having Jimmy available for Miami, all of a sudden, the whole team just plays better.
Without Butler, the Heat are a pretty average team. Kyle Lowry, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, the three guys that are supposed to hold the fort while the superstar is out, are not good enough to carry Miami into the Playoffs. They’re not lifting the other role players to higher levels and are, apparently, not talented enough to win games themselves. Now, that’s a bit rough on my part, especially towards Kyle Lowry, who has been one of the better point guards of the league in the last decade and a bit. But it’s all a bit flat when Butler is not playing. That dog mentality is missing, the passion to win every time you step on the court. Udonis Haslem can only do some much from the bench, the guys on the court are the ones that need to make the difference. And Miami doesn’t have enough difference makers.
Because it’s easy to look at the main guys when things are bad, but the role players play their part too. Victor Oladipo, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent all have the capacity to win games for Miami and we don’t see enough of it. Vincent finally exploded in this back to back against Milwaukee, going for 28 and 27 between the 2 games. But we haven’t seen it enough yet this season. Once more, Miami has the same problem, it is too reliant on Jimmy Butler to win games. When Jimmy is great, so is Miami but when he isn’t, so is Miami. I’m not sure how they can fix that, but there might not be anything to fix. Remember, the Heat were only a shot away from the NBA Finals last year.
PICK #5
Our fifth pick of the week is Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers. It’s like Embiid fans are living in bizarro world this year. Joel is playing a great season but the Sixers as a whole are not doing so great, where Nikola Jokic and his Denver Nuggets are sitting at the top of the other conference. For the last 2 seasons, that scenario was completely flipped. Embiid and the Sixers were top of the league, but a fantastic Jokic, carrying a broken Nuggets team, ran away with the MVP title. You would imagine that Embiid is the runaway favourite this year then, for the MVP title, but it looks like he’ll fall short against Jokic again. In fact, Embiid needs to start worrying whether he’ll even have a starting position on the All-Star teams, battling against Giannis, KD and Tatum for those 3 frontcourt positions in the Eastern Conference.
What is working against him, I believe, is that Philly is supposed to be a title contender this season but has not been playing like it. At least not consistently. James Harden and Tyrese Maxey are a menace in the backcourt, at least offensively. But in defence, they’re one of the worst combinations in the history of the league. And that is weighing on the Phillies current roster structure. Embiid needs to carry too much of the defensive load, resulting in a lot of fouls. He’s averaging the most fouls per game since his rookie season. But swapping Maxey or Harden with De’Anthony Melton or Shake Milton, by staggering everyone during game time, you lose too much offensive power for very little improvement on the defensive end. The Sixers need to make some changes before the deadline to sort these problems out, because right now, they’re having quite a disappointing season.
The Sixers sit in 5th in the Eastern Conference, about 5 games behind Boston and only 2 games behind 2nd placed Brooklyn that will have to place a while without KD. So no man overboard. Once they figure it out, they should be able to right the ship straight away. And when they do, Embiid should get all the glory for it because he’s the one that has kept Philadelphia within reach of the top of the standings. He’s averaging 33 points per game, the highest in his career and is only 4 rebounds short over 30 games this season of averaging 10 rebounds per game. His assists are higher than ever before and his steals and blocks per game are among the best averages he’s ever had. Joel Embiid is playing one of his best seasons ever and nobody is noticing, for 2 reasons. One, his team is not good enough right now, and two, he’s being overshadowed by all the incredible performances happening around the league right now. Hopefully for Embiid, once we’re getting to the business end of the regular season and the dust settles, the truly consistent performances will stick out. That’s his only hope to win the MVP.
This is our All-NBA team of the Week. Please share our podcast and give us 5 stars. If you have any questions, you can contact the show on eight2fouroffice@gmail.com. Thank you for listening, ballers out!
Comments