Goeiedag, enchantée and welcome to this week's episode of Eight 2 Four presents: All-NBA Team of the Week. A trade this week! Not much to speak of but the Knicks and the Hawks swapped players. The Knicks received Cam Reddish and Solomon Hill, the Hawks ended up with Kevin Knox. Hopefully this is the start of a busy few weeks on the trade front. In other news, the Grizzlies are beatable. Luka Doncic and the Mavs were too strong and broke an 11-game winning streak. Most teams at the top had a difficult stretch of games, bringing all teams a little bit closer again. We are in for a very exciting second half of the season! This week we focus on 5 young players, all 27 or under, that played exceptionally this week. It proves once again that the league is full of talent and that LeBron, Curry, KD and the likes need to start worrying about the Monstars, I mean young stars. Get ready for your All-NBA Team of the Week!
PICK #1
Our first pick of the week is Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons. Winning 3 out of the last 4 games, the Pistons are putting a bit of space between them and the worst team in the league, the Orlando Magic. Yes, they’re still the second worst team in the league, but with wins against the Jazz and the Raptors this week, Cunningham and his men are finally learning what winning is. And for a young team, that is important because it’s very hard to break from a losing culture. Ask the Kings or the Timberwolves. Obviously, the Pistons are nowhere close to becoming a Play-In team overnight, but you can play well, win occasionally, and still end up high in the lottery picks. Look at OKC, they’re the masters at tanking.
Expectations were high for Cade Cunningham, who was the clear number 1 pick in a high quality draft class. Evan Mobley, Scottie Barnes, Josh Giddey, Franz Wagner and Zaire Williams are just a few names that are standing out among the rookies this season. And we have to be honest, Cade is not in the running for Rookie of the Year. He has not been on the court often enough and really struggled early on in the season. But just as rumours were starting to circle that the Pistons misfired on him, he started to turn it around. He began to shoot better, dish out more assists and became more present on the court. This week, against Donovan Mitchell and the Jazz, he finished with a career-high 29 points and 8 assists.
Of the 9 players that played in each of the 3 wins this week, only Cory Joseph and Trey Lyles are older than 25. It is safe to say that the Pistons have a young core, and some of them are really talented, like Saddiq Bey and Hamidou Diallo. Considering they’ll be able to add another talent through the draft, this Pistons team looks set for the future. Especially because they have been playing without their biggest trade asset, Jerami Grant, who has been out for the last 15 games. Grant could potentially be the most wanted player at the trade deadline, so if the Pistons play their cards right, they can surround Cade with even more talented players and draft picks.
PICK #2
Our second pick of the week is Tyler Herro of the Miami Heat. The Heat are on a 4 game winning streak, and have climbed back up to 2nd spot on the ladder in the East, only 1 game behind the Bulls. This week, they beat the Suns, the best team in the league, by 23 points IN PHOENIX, and won both home-and-home games against Atlanta. I did pick them to be one of the teams to battle the Bucks and the Nets in the East this season, so you’d think that it wouldn’t be a surprise that they’re this good but considering they haven’t been able to play Bam Adebayo for 20+ games and Jimmy Butler has missed 13 of their last 20 games, it just makes it extra special. The Heat have relied on 35 year old Kyle Lowry, and especially, young gun Tyler Herro to get them through.
Tyler Herro was the talk of the league in the bubble 2 years ago. Still only in his rookie year, he averaged over 16 points, 5 rebounds and nearly 4 assists per game in that 29 game stretch, helping the Heat nearly take it all the way. As you all surely remember, the Heat fell in the Finals against LeBron and the Lakers. Everyone considered him the steal of the draft, being picked at 13. Obviously, in a redraft he wouldn’t have jumped big names like Zion and Ja, but he definitely would have fit in the top 5. He was predicted to take another leap in year 2 but it turned out to be a fizzer, something that happens often to second year players. Fans around the world sold their Herro stock, quite literally, with his Moments in Top Shot plummeting and his rookie cards going for pennies on the dollar on eBay.
So-called experts around the league started to yell out that the Heat should trade Herro, because he is eligible for his rookie extension at the end of this season, and Miami shouldn’t be on the hook for $180M over 5 years. But, oh boy, is Herro proving the critics wrong this season! Over 35 games so far, he averaged more than 20 points per game, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Looking at his rookie year, excluding the bubble, and last season, these are much better numbers and putting him in the conversation for Most Improved. And because he has come off the bench for the majority of these games, he is deserving of Sixth Player as well. Herro is back on top of the world, deservingly claiming his place on this loaded Miami roster. I wouldn’t be surprised that by the end of the season, his Top Shots are back up where they were 2 years ago.
PICK #3
Our third pick of the week is Kyle Kuzma of the Washington Wizards. In the last 4 seasons, plenty of people claimed Kuz wasn’t a great player, he was just lucky he played on the Lakers and received plenty of attention. If he would have been playing on another team, he wouldn’t have been nearly as visible as he was in LA. Well, Kuz is playing on another team now. In the offseason he was traded to the Wizards in the Russell Westbrook deal, alongside KCP and Montrezl Harrell. And he has been visible, there’s no doubt about it. Think of the jumper he was wearing the other day! But more importantly, he has been playing well, he might even be having the best season of his career overall.
Early in his career, on the Lakers, Kuz was destined to be a scorer but as LeBron took more and more control of the team, Kuzma’s role became smaller and smaller. It was clear he needed a change of scenery and grabbed the opportunity in Washington with both hands. Kuz has been an extremely reliable partner for Bradley Beal, and stepped up these last few games after Beal was placed in Health and Safety Protocols. Over the last 3 games, which were all wins for the Wizards and 2 of those were played without Beal, Kuz has averaged 25 points per game and a whopping 12 rebounds per game. He’s been shooting 61% from the field and 46% from deep. If he could only lift his free throw average from 64% to 90%, he would truly be on an amazing run.
But we have to place all of this in perspective, of course. The last 3 games the Wizards played the Magic twice and OKC at home. Not the biggest competition. The Wizards are also a pretty average team. Sitting at 8th in the Eastern Conference is not bad, but it is also not that great. The fact they’re only 2 games over 500 sort of proves it. They’ve lost a lot of shine since their 10 and 3 start to the season. We hear a lot of reports of teammates fighting each other, which is never a good sign. A lot can still go wrong for this team moving forward, but right now, we finally get to see the Kuzma we always wanted to see in LA. Hopefully he can continue this great stretch of basketball and help the Wizards get into the Playoffs.
PICK #4
Our fourth pick of the week is Brandon Ingram of the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans. Where do we begin? Frankly, the Pelicans have been a total mess this season. It all started at training camp, when they announced that Zion had secret foot surgery during the offseason and was recovering. He was supposed to be back by the start of the season. But not to worry, the rest of the team was ready to guide him to the Playoffs. Then, right before the first game, it turned out Zion wasn’t ready. In fact, he wasn’t even close to ready. He hadn’t recovered yet from his surgery and looked totally out of shape. On top of that, the team that did play was horrendous. In a league with teams like the Rockets, Magic, Pistons and OKC purposefully tanking, this Pelicans team was worse than all of them.
Now, halfway through the season, it looks like there is light at the end of the tunnel. Yes, Zion could miss the rest of the season and the Pelicans climbing in the standings is more other teams around them dropping down. But the Pelicans are turning things around nonetheless. In their last 15 games, they have only lost 6. That is a .600 record and would place them in the top 6 in the West. Too bad they were 7 and 20 before that. But, let’s focus on the positive. In that stretch they had wins against Milwaukee, Cleveland and Golden State, not too shabby for a terrible team. Something changed in the way they played. They are moving the ball around more and faster. That’s the game plan new Head Coach Willie Green tried to implement from the start and it took some time for the players to pick it up. But they did, and it is great to watch.
The soul of their game is speed. Don’t hold the ball for too long, don’t hesitate. Play quickly, with confidence and trust in yourself and your teammates. Believe they will make the right play. And believing is what BI is doing. This week alone he is leading the team in points, 26 per game, and in assists, with 6 dimes per game. And he shot over 60% from behind the arc. Somewhere in November/December the Pelicans have figured it out and it is starting to show on the court. And because the teams around them are failing, we could see them end up in the Play-In games. The Kings, who sit in 8th, are only half a game ahead of the Pelicans. I’d love to see this team make a run up in the second half of the season, if only to squash all the rumours that Zion is unhappy and wants to leave. He will be more likely to be happy to play on a winning team.
PICK #5
Our fifth pick of the week is Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers. “There’s really no urgency to change anything. I think we got everything we need.” Those were the words of Joel Embiid after another convincing Sixers win, this time against the Celtics. An obvious dig at teammate, former teammate, whatever Ben Simmons is these days, and a clear show of support to GM Daryl Morey who said earlier in the season that it could take up to 4 years to trade Ben Simmons. And as long as the Sixers dominate on the court and the players show support for the front office, Morey can afford to take his time. Especially now that he is trying to include Tobias Harris in a trade as well. That is $70M combined, what team will be willing to match that?
So the saga continues, but the Sixers are playing well. In their last 10 games they are 8 and 2, with the most notable win in Brooklyn against KD and Harden, where Joel waved Durant off the court at the end of the game. It shows Embiid’s mindset right now, he is absolutely dominating. His numbers are better than last season, when he was the last competitor standing to challenge Jokic in the MVP-race. In this 10-game stretch, he is averaging nearly 31 points per game and 10 rebounds per game. He looks in great shape and is bullying people on the court, allowing his teammates to get open looks themselves. The Sixers have climbed back up the standings and are now sitting in 5th, less than 2 games behind homecourt. And that needs to be the goal for the Sixers, to sneak into homecourt advantage, at least for the first round of the Playoffs.
The Playoffs, that’s a different beast for Philly. Right now, they’re strong in the regular season but I worry that this team is not capable of performing in Playoffs. I think we’ll see a repeat of the Bubble Playoffs, where Philly was swept in the first round by the Celtics. The Sixers are slow, really slow. With Harris, Curry, Green and Embiid they have some of the slowest NBA players running the transition. It is Embiid that is getting upset that things aren’t moving fast enough. They won’t be able to last against a Giannis, who only needs 4 steps to cross the entire court. Unfortunately for this proud Sixers franchise, if they want to stand a chance at winning anything this season, they will have to make that trade before the deadline, which is now less than 4 weeks away.
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