Goeiedag, enchantée and welcome to this week's episode of Eight 2 Four presents: All-NBA Team of the Week. We have lost Stephen Curry to a foot injury after rolling around with Marcus Smart. A big blow for the Warriors who will likely struggle to hold on to third spot in the West. KAT threw down 60 points against the Spurs, followed by Kyrie the next day against Orlando. LeBron is only 19 points removed from Karl Malone’s 2nd spot on the all-time leading scorer list, with a game coming up against the Wizards. Most teams are heading into their last 10 games of the season, let the jockeying for positions begin! This week, we step away from focusing on 5 great players and focus on 5 great storylines that are playing around the league. Get ready for your All-NBA Team of the Week!
PICK #1
Our first pick of the week is the MVP race. Right now, the MVP race is a three-legged race, between Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid. But that doesn’t mean that certain players can't throw their hat in the ring towards the end of the competition. Off the top of my head, I’m thinking of Luka Doncic, if he can lead Dallas to a top 3 finish in the West. Or Jayson Tatum, if he can do the unthinkable and push Boston to the top of the East. Maybe even Kevin Durant, if Brooklyn can avoid the Play-In games. All these scenarios are unlikely, that’s why these guys will only be considered if they actually make it happen.
But until then, we can focus on Jokic, Giannis and Embiid. All three have a fair claim to the title because all three are having exceptional seasons. Giannis is putting up better numbers than in the 2 years he won the MVP, Jokic is playing better than last year and has to lead his team to any wins, and Embiid is just dominating teams around the league. He has improved season after season after season and has now arrived at the top of the league, making his claim on a first MVP title. Because these guys are so close together, it is pretty much impossible to make an objective decision. That’s when we go into the narrative around these players, and the guy with the best narrative will be the MVP, it’s as simple as that.
Three players, three narratives. For Jokic the narrative is clear, he has absolutely no help this season. Denver can’t count on their other 2 big names, Jamal Murray and MPJ. Yet, Denver still sits in 6th in the West. Giannis’ story is slightly different. Losing Brook Lopez early in the season, he had to adjust his normal playing style and play more on the 5 throughout the season. Middleton and Holiday were in and out during the season and have only recently started playing at their proper levels. Despite all this, the Bucks sit in 2nd in the East and Giannis is averaging a career-high in points per game. Then finally, Joel Embiid. Obviously he has had no help from his running mate Ben Simmons all year and his supporting cast has been disappointing. Joel himself, on the other hand, is leading the league in scoring and has been dominant in most games he has played. Now that he has the help of James Harden, you would imagine that this could only improve his odds. These are the narratives, I have made up my decision, who’s your favourite for the MVP?
PICK #2
Our second pick of the week is the race for Playoff seeding in the West. I’m very confident to say that Phoenix has clinched that number 1 spot. With only 11 games left to play, they have 9 games to give before Memphis could catch up. A lot of weird things have happened in the NBA recently but that will not be one of them. The Grizzlies sit in second, half a game ahead of the Warriors who have now lost Curry for God knows how long. The Jazz follow 3 games behind them, with the Mavs on their tail, only 1 game behind. Denver completes the top 6, one and a half games behind the Mavs and only half a game ahead the Timberwolves, who are fighting for a spot in the top 6. The Clippers, who sit in 8th nearly 7 games behind the Wolves are too far back to be dangerous.
Looking at the current positions and the way teams are playing, the teams most likely to climb the standings are the Wolves and the Mavericks, with the Warriors and the Jazz most likely to drop. The Grizzlies are not as incredible anymore as earlier in the season but they are still winning and at this stage of the competition, I would not want to bet against Nikola Jokic but I do see the Nuggets drop to 7. The Warriors might be in for a tough final 12 games. Even though Curry has not been playing that great lately, not having him at all will hurt. And the Jazz are simply not the same team as in previous years. Mitchell is very good but not great, and Rudy Gobert seems to struggle more than usual. It’s not that the Jazz are a bad team, they just feel a little bit stale. The Timberwolves are playing an incredible season. KAT has unleashed himself from whatever shackles were holding him back in the past, Anthony Edwards is Kobe reincarnated and Russell is showing flashes of a top-2 pick. Jarred Vanderbilt has turned into a potential Defensive Player of the Year and Patrick Beverly has them all riled up. In Dallas, they have gone full-Luka since the KP trade, and adding Spencer Dinwiddie has been incredible for them. There’s still something missing but the Mavs are really fun to watch right now.
So based on all of that, we can say that Phoenix will take the number 1 spot and likely will play the first round against one of the LA teams. Memphis will take the 2 spot, incredible, and will most likely have to play Denver. Not a great outcome, especially if the Nuggets can recover Murray and/or MPJ. I can see the Mavs jump to 3 to take on the Wolves in 6th. The Warriors and the Jazz will verse each other as the number 4 and 5. This could give us some very special series in the first round, especially if the Clippers can bring back Kawhi and PG for a series against CP, Booker and the Suns. I wouldn’t be surprised to see any scenario happen, even a massive upset where the top 4 is eliminated in the first round. These last 3 weeks will be very important for all these teams and very exciting to watch for all us spectators!
PICK #3
Our third pick of the week is the number 7 spot in the East. It currently belongs to the Raptors but they are keen to pass it onto the Cavs or the Bulls. All three teams are 12 games away from the end of the regular season. According to Tankathon, the Bulls have the most difficult schedule left of these 3 teams, Toronto sits in the middle, and the Cavs have the easiest schedule but the fun part is that these teams still play each other. The Raptors and the Bulls play each other this week, in Chicago, and later this week, the Bulls travel to Ohio to meet with the Cavs. And in between those games, the Cavs and the Raptors meet each other in Toronto. We’ll know a whole lot more once these games are completed.
All three teams are strong enough to skip the Play-In games and make it straight into the Playoffs, but one of them will need to fall back to 7th. And even though all three teams are strong enough to upset a top 4 seed, they’re all petrified of what is waiting for them in the Play-In series. First off, you can expect the 7th seed to verse the Brooklyn Nets for that 7th Playoff spot. Because that’s an away game for Brooklyn, you can expect Kyrie to play. Only Toronto doesn’t have to fear Kyrie because he’s not allowed to play in Canada either. If you lose that game, you need to play a do or die game against the winner of the Hornets and Atlanta. If Trae Young can get fired up for the Play-In games, that could be a lethal game if you have to play Atlanta for that last spot in the Playoffs. I don’t expect that either the Bulls, Cavs or Raptors would be willing to risk it in the Play-In games on purpose.
But that’s looking down and winners only look up, right? So, let’s look up. We can anticipate some shuffling among the top 4 seeds but as it stands right now, Miami will take on the 2nd team coming out of the Play-In games, Philly will take on the first team out of the Play-In, the Bucks will meet the Cavs and Boston will battle it out with the Bulls. I believe that the Heat and the Sixers are the easiest teams to upset in that first round. Jimmy Butler is not THAT guy this year and the Heat will need him to be in the Playoffs. He could be saving it for the Playoffs because the Heat don’t need him at his best right now, who knows, but if Butler is not playing as well as in the last few years, the Heat will struggle in the Playoffs. And the Sixers are just a big question mark. How will the Harden-Embiid experiment pan out? I expect it to go further than 1 round, but you just never know. So if those are the teams you are aiming for, the 7th spot on the ladder all of a sudden doesn’t seem so bad.
PICK #4
Our fourth pick of the week is the advantage of playing less games. We’ve been listening to this debate for a very long time and really the only advantage to playing 82 games in the regular season is financial. Franchises have 41 home games, that’s 41 opportunities to make plenty of money. More games also means more money in a tv-deal, however that argument is easily refuted by stating that less games means higher stakes in every game and potentially more people watching. And that is what it all comes down to, people that are watching. We have clearly evolved to a league where superstars sit out games that don’t mean as much. A trip to Oklahoma City? I think I have some hamstring tightness. A back to back in New York and Orlando? Oh no, I rolled my ankle in the first game. You see where I’m going with this? Less games means that every game carries more weight in the standings. More important games, means more competition, means more fans, means more money.
And that’s just the financial side, now let’s look at the actual player performance. This season we have a real life sample we can watch when it comes to playing less games, Kyrie Irving. I’m not going to touch on the reason why he is playing fewer games and whether or not he should be allowed to play more games. These decisions have been made by people smarter than me and for reasons much bigger than basketball. I just look at how this can influence the league in a positive way and that is using this situation as an argument to have players play less games. Kyrie has only played 19 games over the course of the season and has been on fire in almost all of those. Especially now that we’re approaching the end of the season and a lot of teams are resting their important players whenever they can or the opposite, squeezing every last dribble out of their starts for positioning and ruining their Playoff chances, Kyrie is putting up a show. He’s averaging nearly 38 points per game in his last 5 games, or more than 30 in his last 10. Keep in mind that he played some of those 10 games with Harden and wasn’t able to do exactly what he wanted. Less games means players are in better shape towards the end of the season and don’t need to rest as much or sacrifice their Playoff run in the final stretch of the season.
My suggestion is to give every team a home and away game. With 30 teams in the league, that means you’re playing 58 games. And even though the 2 arguments I brought up earlier, aimed at owners AND players, should be enough to grease the wheels to start some change, I will give you 2 more arguments to put this in place, this time aimed at the Commissioner Adam Silver. Silver wants to expand the league and more franchises, with single home and away games, you can easily add 2, 3 even 4 teams. Less games could mean increased travel time, so why not add more franchises in different countries? And lastly, if you’re worried that the owners will not like having less than 41 home games, you have the room to add in the mid-season tournament. I have a template of 22 games for the 2 best teams, that will add 13 home games to the tally for the best team in that tournament. That is an extra home game in the season for the best team, while playing 2 games less overall. Talk about win-win-win. Sorry, you said you wanted to see this template? I’ll post it on our socials.
PICK #5
Our fifth pick of the week is the stars of the future. Every year we sit down to watch March Madness and this year is no different. We all have our brackets in hand and pray our teams make it through to the next round. Some of you hope to see plenty of Cinderella stories, others are banking on the stars of tomorrow to get it done. We have already seen some upsets. By the time of writing today’s show, Kentucky has already been kicked out of the tournament in the first round against Saint-Peter's. There’s always one. March Madness brings so much joy to basketball fans in the US and around the world, because even here in Australia us basketball freaks are glued to the tv over the next few weeks.
I like watching to get an idea of what the NBA Draft Prospects look like. I rarely have the time to dive into college basketball, this yearly tournament is the moment for me to find out who is capable of performing on the highest stage. I have my eyes on four guys, and people following college basketball won’t be surprised. The names are Chet Holmgren from Gonzaga, this kid is exceptional. Tall and skinny, with a 7 foot 5 wingspan, and can play in the post or on the perimeter. Jabari Smith Jr from Auburn, who’s already strong on both ends of the court. Paolo Banchero from Duke, the Blue Devils forward has some much potential but whoever drafts him will need to be patient with him. And lastly, Jaden Ivey from Purdue, a smallish score-first guard, who has the potential to take over games. A slightly taller Cole Anthony.
But another benefit of March Madness is that other players, who are a bit lower on people’s draft boards, can show off their skills and climb a few spots. A bad run in the NCAA tournament can make some guys tumble as well. Very stressful for those kids but very entertaining for us. And just the fact that I can watch game after game after game for 2 weeks straight is monumental. Bring it on!
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!
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