All-NBA Team of the Week - Wow!

Goeiedag, enchantée and welcome to this week's episode of Eight 2 Four presents: All-NBA Team of the Week. This is it, ladies and gentlemen, the season is over. The Bucks beat the Suns in 6 games, they won 4 games in a row. Giannis finished the decider with 50 points, something we haven’t seen in, well almost forever. It was one of the most iconic deciding games in a Finals series and the Greek Freak has secured himself a spot in the history books. It was unbelievable and I am lost for words. All I can say is, wow! After winning the regular season MVP twice in a row, he now has a Finals MVP to go alongside it but more importantly, he has that Larry O’Brien Trophy. It took 50 years but the Bucks have finally won another title. Giannis is the new Kareem, THE question on everyone’s lips: will he leave, like Kareem did? Now that he has given the Bucks their long-awaited title, maybe Giannis can do something selfish and force his way to the team of his dreams? Or maybe Milwaukee is the city of his dreams, his land of opportunity and he will sit tight and look to add more titles to his legacy. He is only 26, in LeBron years, he still has at least another 10 to do what he does best: dominate on the court. It was a wonderful finish to a difficult NBA season with many ups and downs. No need to look back, instead, let’s have a look at the coming off-season. This episode we’ll touch on 5 important events before the new season gets underway. Get ready for your All-NBA Team of the Week.

PICK #1

Our first pick of the week is the NBA-Draft. We’re only a few days away from the NBA draft, which will take place on July 29th. The Pistons have the number 1 pick, followed by the Rockets, Cleveland, Toronto and the Magic to complete the top 5. It seems like the Pistons will take Cade Cunningham, the rest of the top 5 will likely take one of the following four players, in any order: Jalen Green, Evan Mobley, Jalen Suggs and Jonathan Kaminga. It is widely accepted across different mock drafts that this will be the top 5. Maybe Scottie Barnes will find his way in there and push Kaminga to 6 and some reports have Kaminga even drop lower. Obviously we’ll see some trades on draft night, some teams will try to move up the ladder. The Orlando Magic, with pick 5 and 8, the Golden State Warriors, with pick 7 and 14, and OKC, with pick 6 and 16 are the likeliest candidates to trade up.

For Australian basketball fans, this draft includes young talent Josh Giddey, who has a very high chance of being picked inside the top 10. Rumours are that the Warriors and Pelicans like him but if he does fall out of the top 10, he could end up in Indiana or San Antonio. None of these are bad destinations, except maybe New Orleans, if Zion does decide to force his way out, and Giddey can look forward to joining a solid team in his first years in the NBA.

PICK #2

Our second pick of the week is Chris Paul’s future. The Suns point god has not been able to add a ring to his legacy this season. He has never been any closer and with the Western Conference looking to be even stronger next year, this could have been his one and only chance. Especially if he decides to stay with the Suns this offseason. This is an incredibly difficult decision that Paul needs to make. Does he choose the money and potentially sacrifice his chances to another title? Or does he sell-out and go to a contender at a cheap price to chase that ring? Keeping in mind that option number 2 doesn’t come with a guaranteed ring either.

If he decides to stay, the Suns will be stronger again next year. Ayton and Booker now have that necessary Playoff experience and heartbreak that they didn’t have this past run. And even though the Lakers will be better and the Warriors and Nuggets are returning to their full strength, there will always be that option that they make it back into the Finals next year. But on the flipside, if he signs with LeBron and the Lakers, for example, to chase a ring, that Lakers team will be very likely to add a title to their record again next year. Even a fully-healthy Brooklyn team wouldn’t be able to stop them. It is a gut wrenching decision, and I’m glad that I’m not the one making it. The ball is in your court CP.

PICK #3

Our third pick of the week are the Olympic Games. KD, Lillard and the rest have had a difficult start to their Olympic campaign, losing games against Nigeria and Australia. On top of it, Beal couldn’t travel due to Covid and Booker, Holiday and Middleton only arrived 12 hours before their first game in Tokyo. Not a fantastic start for a team that can’t afford to lose. This is not a USA team with nobodies, this roster is loaded with NBA stars. Their first game against France will give a good indication how far this team is removed from their best form.

Obviously, here in Australia, we’ll be cheering for our Boomers. These guys are on a mission to bring home a medal, preferably at least a silver one but a gold medal would defeat all expectations. In stark contrast with the USA team, Australia had a great preparation. They didn’t lose any games, were able to include all players on their roster and they left for Tokyo booming with confidence. They should quite easily get through the group stage, after that every game is like a coin toss. But the Boomers can beat any of these teams on any given night, so fingers crossed!

PICK #4

Our fourth pick of the week is free agency. With reportedly Damian Lillard, Kawhi Leonard and Ben Simmons, we have quite a few superstar calibre players potentially on the move this off-season. As usual, the rumours will be louder than the actual moves but it doesn’t hurt to get excited about it. Lillard is done in Portland. Kawhi doesn’t trust the Clippers front office, and Ben Simmons is toxic in Philly. It will be very interesting to see what will happen there.

A lot of rumours are about pairing Lillard with Embiid in Philly or Lillard and Simmons in Portland. I would like to throw my own spin on these trade rumours and give a different perspective. I agree with the idea that you need to break up Lillard and McCollum, and Embiid and Simmons. What I don’t agree with is who is trading for who. What seems more likely to me is that Portland will trade Embiid for Lillard than Simmons for McCollum. This will give you the combo of Lillard and Simmons in Philly and McCollum, Embiid in Portland. Imagine a Finals series between these 2 teams.

PICK #5

Our fifth pick of the week is NBA Summer League. From August 8th, the Summer League is back. After being cancelled last season because of the short turnaround between NBA seasons, a lot of newer players in the NBA have missed their chance to showcase their skills in the Summer League. Now that the Summer League is back, it is easy to imagine that most rosters will have more regular NBA players on it than usual.

The Summer League is an opportunity for rookies and fringe players to show they deserve a spot on their teams roster. This season, players that didn’t have a chance to play last season, will like to be added to those rosters. That should lift the quality of rosters in Las Vegas, hopefully, and we’ll get to see some really good basketball.

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!