Goeiedag, enchantée and welcome to this week's episode of Eight 2 Four presents: All-NBA Team of the Week. Boom! That was an incredible finish to the trade deadline! The Nets have blown it up and traded Kyrie to Dallas and KD to Phoenix. Especially for the Suns this was a massive move, this didn’t open up their window to a championship, it smashed the window. I don’t want to overreact to this trade but the Suns are one of the clear favourites to come out of the West. The Lakers fixed their Westbrook problem by replacing him with another shoot-first point guard, D-Lo. Portland were involved in some weird trades, not aimed at helping Dame now but also not helpful to build for the future. And on top of everything else, they tried to trade an injured Gary Payton II without telling the Warriors. It’s not clear whether or not this trade will actually go through, and considering it involved 4 teams, 4 players and a whole bunch of picks. My goodness, who was running the war room in Portland? Anyway, a lot has happened before the deadline, but we won’t go over it today. We’ll revisit some of the trades in a later show, when we’ve had a chance to pick some clear winners and losers. This week, we go over the 5 Western All-Star starters. Mind you, we are discussing the original starters, not the replacements. I’m Peter Peake and this is your All-NBA Team of the Week!
PICK #1
Your first pick is Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors. First of all, Steph is injured and he will miss the All-Star game. I’m not even going to attempt to tell you what he actually injured, but basically, it was a high sprain on his left ankle. There is no return date for him yet, he will be re-evaluated after the All-Star break. De’Aaron Fox from the Sacramento Kings is getting a chance to show himself in the All-Star game in his stead. It could be a while before we see Curry back on the court but hopefully it’s not that bad and the Warriors will be able to count on him for that final push into the Playoffs. And they’ll need him, because the Warriors are playing a rough season. They’re really good at home, only losing 6 out of 27 games. But they are terrible on the road, losing 7 out of 28 games.
So far this season, Curry has averaged 29, 6 and 6 in 38 games and he’s been playing absolutely fantastic. He’s the reason the Warriors are where they are, because he’s had very little support from his team mates. Klay is still up and down and searching for himself after his massive injuries, Draymond seems to be too worried about his future to be caring about his present, Jordan Poole is playing to impress Jordan Poole, Wiggins has missed most of December due to injuries and the role players, well, they’re decent but are not winning games for the Warriors in Curry’s absence. Just to prove my point, Curry is averaging +8 in the average plus/minus box score for the season. There are only 4 out of 15 other players in the positive on that list and none of them score over +2.
The Warriors seem to be imploding, and that is painful to watch, especially after that impressive Championship run last season. There is always the chance that they’ll do it again. If they put everything together after the All-Star break and make a bit of a run up the standings, I mean, that’s what they did last season. But it feels different. To me it feels like this Warriors team, as it is currently constructed, is standing on its last legs. The dynasty is over and I think last season was their last hoorah. Hopefully, the front office can make the transition easy and painless because I don’t believe anyone will want to see Curry tanking for draft picks in the near future.
PICK #2
Your second pick is Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks. Based on the first half of the season, Luka is a clear MVP candidate and it should be no surprise that he is part of this All-Star team. He’s averaging over 33 points, nearly 9 rebounds and 8 assists per game. He’s already had 4 50+ point games, and one of those was actually a 60-pointer. He has had little to no help at all to keep Dallas in the running for home court advantage in the Playoffs and it didn’t seem like the front office was going to do anything to change that any time soon. Mark Cuban got pissed at a mural saying that Doncic needed help and made the artist take it down. And in trade rumours, things were quiet in Dallas. And then, all of sudden, they threw their cards on the table and went all-in.
The Mavericks brought in Kyrie to help Luka. Now, I don’t want to talk about Kyrie. I went on a bit of a rant last week and I still don’t have many nice things to say about him so I’d rather say nothing. But I do want to talk about the fit. I’m not worried about the fit. Kyrie has played with absolute superstars before, like LeBron and KD, and is very capable of adjusting his own style to suit. He’s very flexible that way and because Luka spends so much time in the post, I actually believe that they will be complementary, as long as they allow each other the ball. It won’t be a problem this season, this is the honeymoon phase. If this will get them over the hump and into the NBA Finals, I sincerely believe that that will depend on Luka, and Luka alone. If he can get to another level, something we haven’t seen from him before, then yes. If he’s the same as last season, I believe they’ll struggle. And Kyrie won’t influence any of this. Sure, he’ll win them a few games in the Playoffs, but I don’t believe that him being on the team will actually improve the end result for Dallas. Unfortunately, that’s not something we can check.
My biggest fear about the trade is that Kyrie has the Mavericks by the balls and will just walk away at the end of the season, leaving Dallas with nothing but cap space. They have no trade assets anymore and free agents don’t like to sign for the Mavericks. And even if they did, the free agent list is not that impressive this offseason. Are they going to bring Porzingis back? I don’t think so! If he walks, he could set back the Mavericks massively, risking Doncic to ask for a trade himself. I mean, this franchise has already struggled to build around Luka when they did have assets, how will they do it without any? Then again, Luka is such a generational talent, he might actually believe that he can do it all on his own. Much like LeBron had to do for most of his career. Time will only tell, but in the meantime, enjoy watching Luka at the All-Star game!
PICK #3
Your third pick is LeBron James of the LA Lakers. I have nothing but love and praise for LeBron. At 38 years old, he’s breaking records left, right and centre and he finally has that big one. He took the crown from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the new NBA All-Time Scoring leader with 38,390 career points. In a loss, and I still can’t believe the Lakers lost that game, how embarrassing from his team mates, against OKC, LeBron sealed the deal at home in the third quarter with a fadeaway jumper. A classic LeBron shot in my books. Funny side note is that Thomas Bryant was asking for the ball on that possession and 24 hours later he was traded away from the Lakers. Not so funny is that Westbrook clearly was causing grief among the team that day and was shipped off too and what was wrong with AD? He reckons he was pissed they were losing but, buddy, that’s on you. A rookie held you to 13 and 8, that’s embarrassing!
The Lakers finally made some good moves at the trade deadline. They found a solution for Westbrook and brought back multiple players so they finally have some wiggle room for the future. They might be a bit better on paper but I still don’t believe that this will make a difference to them on the court. D’Angelo Russell is still not a playmaking point guard. He loves to dribble and heave, not quite the help LeBron needs, but it couldn’t get any worse than it already was. I like Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt but I’m not sure if Mo Bamba will be an upgrade from Bryant, who was playing well for the Lakers this season. But they kept their pick and solved their biggest problem, that’s a win in my book.
Let’s hope it’s enough for LeBron and AD to make a Playoff push. If AD can play like earlier in the season, and not like against OKC, with all these role players, there should be some hope in the Lakers locker room to get there. And once they’re in, I’m not betting against LeBron. Chances will be slim to go all the way but the Western Conference is looking strange this season. The Nuggets and the Grizzlies sit at the top, but I don’t have much confidence in them, I mean, maybe Jokic can get there. Then you have the Kings, the Mavs and the Clippers, surely LeBron can take them all on. The Suns with KD are the biggest question mark right now, and maybe even the clear favourite. I don’t know, but Playoffs in the West will be exciting this year!
PICK #4
Your fourth pick is Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans. Will he be healthy enough to play? That’s the question that has followed Zion his entire NBA career so far. The guy has missed more games due to injury than he has played, and this is his fourth season in the league already! And as usual, the answer to the question this time is: “no, he won’t be able to play”. Zion has a right hamstring injury that has kept him sidelined since early January and no sign of his return yet. He will be re-evaluated after the break. We miss out on Zion Williamson again, who’s early career years keep us hungry for his potential. There is some good news though, for general basketball fans at least, with Anthony Edwards we’ll get a very spectacular replacement for the All-Star game.
But it would have been so good to see Zion back at the All-Star game. Back in 2021, the only game he participated in so far, he was on Team Durant and finished the game with 10 points off some spectacular dunks. You remember that game, when Curry and Lillard couldn’t stop shooting from half court and Giannis didn’t miss a single shot, including 3 shots from deep on his own. The All-Star games are fun, especially lately with this new Elam Ending, where the final quarter is played to a target score instead of the normal timed quarter. And they are fun because the best players in the NBA are so good, we rarely get a dull moment on the court. It would have been nice to see Zion walk among them again.
In 29 games this season, he’s averaged 26 points, 7 rebounds and nearly 5 assists per game. The Pelicans were 17 and 12 with Zion early in the season and were sitting near the top region of the standings in the West. Since Zion’s injury the Pelicans are 12 and 16 and have dropped to the Play-In spots. Now, it’s not all Zion of course, the Pelicans have been plagued by injuries with most players missing games, but most of all Brandon Ingram who’s already missed 35 games this season. I was hoping this would be the first year we’d see the Pelicans make life hard for a lot of teams, but it seems like we might need to wait another year, and that’s been the story of Zion’s career so far, really.
PICK #5
Your fifth pick is Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets. Ladies and Gentlemen, for the third straight year, meet your MVP of the regular season, Nikola Jokic! Haha, it’s a bit early to hand out awards, but Jokic is definitely making his claim on winning his third in a row, an achievement that would put him in the same row as Wilt Chamberlain, who else, Bill Russell and Larry Bird. And, if he wins, he would join LeBron James as the only active player who’s won the MVP more than twice. Mind you, Lebron has four so he’d still be in a category of his own regardless. Basketball Reference has Jokic to win the MVP with 65% probability, Giannis is a close second with about 8% chance of winning. Of course, the season is still long and a lot can happen so let’s not jump the gun.
The Nuggets sit on top of the West, 3 and a half games out from the Grizzlies and 6 and a half in front of the Kings, who sit in third. The Kings! In third! Anyway, Jokic has been leading his team to win after win after win, but it’s not like the Nuggets have seemed invincible. They’re 2 games off the pace of the Celtics who lead the East and the entire league by extension, and Jokic has already missed as many games this season as in 2016, when he missed a total of 8 games in the entire season. He’s also not scoring and rebounding as much as in his previous 2 seasons but his assists are well up so I suppose it evens out. Look, the Nuggets are a great team, led by one of the best players in the world. He’s averaging a triple double for the season, for goodness sake! But they’re not the clear favourites to win it all, or to even get out of the Western Conference.
The fact that the Nuggets only have one All-Star tells us the whole story. Neither Aaron Gordon, Jamal Murray or Michael Porter Jr are good enough or spectacular enough to join Jokic on the big stage. Obviously, they’re helpful enough to win in the regular season, but we haven’t seen the bubble Nuggets yet and that is what I am waiting for. In the meantime, we’ll just enjoy Nikola Jokic. Out of 49 games this season, he finished 20 with a triple double. In those 20 games, the Nuggets haven’t lost once. You heard me correctly, the Nuggets are undefeated when The Joker completes a triple double. That’s incredible.
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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