Goeiedag, enchantée and welcome to this week's episode of Eight 2 Four presents: All-NBA Team of the Week. We’re almost there, there’s only a day left in the regular season. Most teams already know where they stand: in the East there’s a couple of teams jockeying for lottery positions but in the West a lot can still happen. The Pelicans and Timberwolves will play against each other to determine their fates. If Minnesota wins, they jump over the Pelicans to the 7-8 matchup but if the Pelicans win, they could jump all the way to spot 5, if the teams above them all end up tied in the standings. The Lakers should have an easy win against a Jazz team with nothing left to play for. A win could propel them over the Warriors into the Playoffs but that would mean the Warriors have to lose against the Blazers, and Portland hasn’t played any proper NBA players in a few weeks now. Maybe Lillard will make an appearance to stick it to Curry? I don’t think so. The Clippers play the Suns in what is likely to be the 4-5 match up in the West, so we get a bit of a preview there. And the Spurs and the Rockets are still working out who will be the second worst team in the league. It’s going to be an interesting day and chances are that by the time you hear this podcast, you already know how it played out. To avoid talking about things that don’t matter anymore tomorrow, we’re going to focus on the predictions we made at the start of the season. More particularly, in this week’s episode, we go over some of the worst predictions I made at the start of the season. I’m Peter Peake and this is your All-NBA Team of the Week!
PICK #1
Our first terrible prediction was that the New York Knicks would be a lottery team. I said that I would be very surprised if Thibs is still coaching this team at the end of the season and the roster will still look the same as it does at the start of the season. Well, colour me surprised! In fairness, I did mention that the only way the Knicks would not end up a bottom dweller, was if Thibs would change his way and start playing the young players more often, and that is exactly what he did. With Quentin Grimes and Immanuel Quickley, the Knicks have 2 young players who stood out the most this season in their rotations.
The Knicks had a great regular season that finished with them nabbing the fifth spot in the East and a Round 1 Playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers are inexperienced, but realistically, so are the Knicks. This could be a situation where Thibs’ experience could take the upper hand against J.B. Bickerstaff, who, much like his young team, doesn’t have much experience coaching at the highest level. Worst case scenario for the Knicks, is that they have another series like 2 years ago, when they didn’t stand a chance against Trae Young and the Hawks. And remember, they didn’t have any Playoff experience either.
But I’m confident that the Knicks can take the Cavaliers in a best of 7 series. They managed to win their regular season series 3 to 1, so why wouldn’t they be able to continue that streak into the Playoffs. Even if the Knicks get eliminated, their season can be deemed a success. If they can add a piece or two to this roster and encourage their young core to take another step, they should be able to make things difficult for the top 3 teams in the East next year. And if they’re lucky, they end up with a late lottery pick through Dallas. Dallas needs that pick to land in the top 10 to hold on to it, otherwise it goes to New York. And that could be just the asset the Knicks need to finally complete their ten year rebuild. Or is it closer to 25?
PICK #2
Our second terrible prediction was that the Dallas Mavericks would take out the Western Conference. I put too much faith in the fact that Luka could do it on his own. It was very clear that he had to, but, as we learn every year, no one can successfully carry a team on their own. I thought Luka would be able to break through that fact but not even his magic is good enough to fight NBA realities. The Mavericks have been shocking since they traded for Kyrie, but to be fair, this is not Kyrie’s fault. The Mavs were already struggling before he came and then traded away 2 of their best players of the season to get Kyrie. Without spirit and defence, the Mavs are not better than your average NBA lottery team, with only 1 difference: the Mavs might not have a lottery pick to fall back on.
The biggest problem for the Mavericks, and this has been consistent since Mark Cuban has bought the franchise, is that they have no clear vision on what they want to do. It took them forever to put a half decent team around Dirk Nowitzki and really only managed to win because it was LeBron’s first Finals appearance with the Heat and he basically choked. Last season, the Mavericks finally made it back to the Western Conference Finals and, even though they lost, the consensus was that they’re not far off repeating that little stunt they pulled with Dirk, now with Luka. But with limited options, they struggled to improve the roster around Luka in the off-season.
Obviously, there was the Jalen Brunson failure and no matter how much Cuban wants to cry innocent, the Mavericks screwed up big time on his contract extension. They moved Porzingis to Washington, he could have played a big part in the Mavs Western Conference Finals run last year but it was clear he and Luka were not getting along. They got Dinwiddie and the massive Bertans contract in return. Then of course, they flipped Dinwiddie and Finney-Smith for Kyrie and now they are absolutely nowhere. They might not have a draft pick this year, Kyrie could walk for nothing and they have at least another full year to go on the Bertans contract. At least they’ll have some cap space, but what free agent will want to come to this nightmare of a franchise? I feel for Luka, it took Dallas 12 years to build around Dirk, how long will it take them to build around Luka?
PICK #3
Our third terrible prediction was that the Toronto Raptors were an outsider to play in the Eastern Conference Finals. Considering they’ll struggle to even make it into the Playoffs, that’s a rough one to defend. It was a prediction that could have gone both ways, and it went the wrong way. In my defence, it’s not that they had an absolutely terrible season, it could have been a lot worse, but they are finishing 11 games behind where I placed them, so quite embarrassing nonetheless. A lot of things I expected for them this season haven’t come to fruition. I said that Scottie Barnes would take another leap and OG Anunoby would be in the conversation for Defensive Player of the Year. Well, maybe next year?
I was banking on the core of that championship season to step up and finally show the league it wasn’t just Kawhi and Lowry that brought the title to Toronto, but right now, I'm not sure anymore. Maybe Kawhi is THAT special. It’s not that long ago that Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet were highly sought after players on the trade market, I’m not sure if Toronto even received a call at the deadline this year about either player. No, now I’m going over the top. I haven’t given up on the Raptors yet but I am incredibly disappointed in their season. They were one of the teams at the deadline that should have made a move to avoid finishing their season in the middle. They could have added talent and aimed for a Playoff spot or they could have dumped some contracts and played for the lottery, they did neither and don’t have anything but a wasted season to look back to.
I’m expecting something major to happen in Canada this offseason, especially if they don’t make it out of the Play-In tournament. A franchise with so much quality on its roster should be aiming higher than a 9th spot. They have a really young core, with high quality players in the prime of their careers. Barnes, Anunoby, Siakam and VanVleet, those 4 alone should be an Eastern Conference top 4 candidate. Now that they’ve added Jakob Poeltl, who’s still only 27 himself, this team should be able to compete. I’m still at a loss as to what happened to them this year, it can’t just be as simple as Scottie Barnes not improving since last season? Hopefully they work it out this offseason, because the league needs a strong Raptors team to scare everyone all year round.
PICK #4
Our fourth terrible prediction was that the Denver Nuggets would only scrape into the Playoffs in the West. Annoyingly, at the time, my gut was telling me all along that they would fight for the 1 spot. This is what I wrote back in October: “I wouldn’t be surprised if these guys end up battling for the number 1 spot in the West during the regular season, but that would mean that Jokic, Murray and MPJ need to play in most games. And I don’t believe that the Nuggets front office will want to see that.” Well, clearly the front office did want to see it. And while we’re at it, this is another prediction I made at the same time: “I’m a fan of players who play hard in every game and Jokic deserves a third MVP in a row. To get that one, he will need to play every game and finish on top of the West, just to be considered.”
If I had just stuck to my gut, this would have been an amazing prediction but I have to play the game honestly, and I did say that they would only finish sixth in the West. That prediction was based on Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr, both returning from injury, wouldn’t be playing many games this season. And technically, they didn’t. Murray played 64 games and MPJ 61, that means that they both did miss a pretty big chunk of the season. I mean, neither one of them would qualify for the new award rules, where players will have to play at least 65 games in a season. Jokic didn’t play much more, his tally sits at 68 and Aaron Gordon, their fourth guy, finished his season at 67. Not to take anything away from the Nuggets but they clearly took advantage of the other teams in the West not performing at optimal standard.
As far as the MVP race goes, Jokic has given himself the best possible chance to win three in a row. It’s up to the voters now to decide whether or not he deserves it. At the end of the day, as far as I’m concerned, either one of the three, Jokic, Embiid or Giannis deserves the MVP and there is no wrong answer. Jokic is the best player on the best team in the West, Giannis is the best player on the best team in the East and by extension the entire league and Embiid had another incredible season statistically and Philly finished more or less with the same win/loss percentage as Denver. Too bad this can’t end up in a tie.
PICK #5
Our fifth terrible prediction was that the Sacramento Kings were not going to make the Playoffs and extend their losing streak. Not only did they make the Playoffs, they did it in style, taking out the third spot in the Western Conference. It’s been an incredible season for the Kings, who have played very consistently, had very little injury concerns during the season and they should win at least 2 individual awards this season as well, with Mike Brown they have the number 1 candidate to win Coach of the Year, and De’Aaron Fox should be named Clutch Player of the Year. I didn’t see this coming, I don’t think many people did.
Now comes the exciting part for the Kings. They have to prove that they can be a force to be reckoned with in the Playoffs as well. Every year, there is a team who overperforms in the regular season and then disappoints during the Playoffs. The Jazz were usually the top candidate in recent history but after blowing up their roster in the offseason, we’re looking for a new volunteer. Being a brand new big gun in the West, the Kings will be suspect number 1. Finishing in third is also not proving to be a bonus, with some potential championship contenders catching up with you in the first round. The Clippers, Golden State, the Lakers, either one of these teams seem to be really keen to meet the Kings in the first round.
But let’s not write the Kings off just yet, they have absolutely proven that they deserve our respect in the Playoffs. They have the best offence in the league, by far, and with Mike Brown, they have a defensive minded coach, who has been around the block a few times. If anyone will look at a first round match up with the Kings as a cakewalk, might as well start booking their holidays. Because even though you think you have their number, try making as many points as they do on any given night. I would love for the Kings to get through Round 1, that would really show everyone that they are back!
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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