Goeiedag, enchantée and welcome to the this week's episode of Eight 2 Four Presents: All-NBA Team of the Week. Before we go into this week's picks, I want to say a few words on the James Harden trade to the Brooklyn Nets.
It has been widely reported that James Harden has been traded to the Nets who, in return, have parted ways with Caris LeVert, Jarrett Allen, Taurean Prince and Rodion Kurucs. They also gave up 3 first round picks over the next 8 years and 4 pick swaps. LeVert and Kurucs ended up in Houston alongside the boatload of swaps and picks. Houston also received another pick from Cleveland, that actually belonged to the Bucks, and Dante Exum. Are you still following? Houston then traded LeVert to Indiana for Victor Oladipo and the Cavaliers ended up with Prince and Allen because they didn't have enough big guys on their roster yet. There are a few 2nd round pick floating around as well but I don't have enough time to touch on every detail of this trade.
My first reaction when I heard of the trade was surprise, more than anything else. Nobody seems to benefit from this trade. But after a few days of reading and listening, I'm starting to see it differently. Everyone gets better, and not at the least the players involved. Harden gets what he wants and the Nets have their championship contender team. The Rockets are released from their hostage situation and have 2 nice pieces with Oladipo and Exum they can try and fit or flip for something better in the future. Cleveland now holds more centers in their team alone than there are centers in the whole Western Conference. You would think they will start to flip some of them sometime soon. And last but not least, Indiana has a solution now for their Oladipo-problem. With LeVert they have a similar player but with less superstar attitude. With Brogdon and Sabonis are playing at high level, they needed someone who is happy to play the third violin.
Alright, that's my take on the trade. Now, let's get straight into our All-NBA team of the Week.
PICK #1
My first pick of the week is Victor Oladipo, now part of the Houston Rockets, and slowly finding his all-star form. He started the season really well, trying to reclaim his spot as a star player in the Indiana roster. He's getting 20 points per game, almost 6 rebounds and 4 assists and these numbers are getting close to this averages during his All-Star season. The problem he had was that 2 other players in his team were putting up better numbers, forcing him to be the third best guy on HIS team. It seem to work so far but, obviously, Indiana wasn't waiting for any issues to blow up and traded Oladipo to Houston when they had the chance.
In Houston, Oladipo will find John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, 2 players who are trying to find their former All-Star form as well, after huge injuries. Between the 3 of them they should be able to divide leadership roles and lift the Rockets to a spot in the Play-offs, or to the Play-In game in a worst case scenario.
Leaving Indiana should free Oladipo from any frustrations off court. In the last 12 months the only news about Oladipo and the Pacers were items like: "He's leaving, he's staying, he's forcing his way out, he's playing his best basketball in years". Now he should be able to focus on his game and leave all the other stuff behind him. Prepare yourself for a good season from Victor Oladipo, I know I am!
PICK #2
My second pick for this week's team is Ben Simmons from the Philadelphia 76ers. Last week we included his team mate, Joel Embiid, this week we added Ben Simmons to the team. Earlier in the week, he played an awful game against Miami and he followed that up with a great game. Again, against Miami. Those games were just before and just after the Harden-Nets trade was announced, and Ben was rumoured as the centerpiece for a Harden-Philly trade but Houston decided it wasn't enough.
Ben's response was strong. With a hard-fought triple-double in the second game against Miami, he showed that wants to stay in Philly. It was the 30th triple-double in his career and he is the fourth youngest player to achieve it. My expectation is that we will speak of Ben before the trade and Ben after the trade this season. Now he knows that, if things don't work out with Joel, he is the one on the trading block. This should motivate him to make another leap in his game.
His coach, Doc Rivers, has been keeping the pressure off him so far this season, because Ben has proven to be mentally fragile in the past. But Ben has matured and he showed it on and off the court in his response to the trade rumours. I don't believe he will, all of a sudden, shoot five 3's in a game but I do think that he will sacrifice himself completely for the team meaning his rebound and assist numbers will be going up. And he will be a contender for the Defensive Player of the Year.
Our next check-in with Ben will be in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. Anything less will be a failure for the team. Either that, or Ben will be involved in a different trade this season.
PICK #3
This week's third pick is Paul George, one the Big 2 on the LA Clippers. After their loss in the 2nd round of the play-offs, Play-off P had to carry the brunt of the criticism. Everything seem to have been his fault, including the rifts in the team and his running mate Kawhi Leonard got away with most of it. PG took it personally and vowed at the start of the season that he would come back stronger than ever.
And he did, he is scoring more efficiently, he is more involved in team basketball, and more importantly, after a few PR disasters at the start of the season, he's letting his game do the talking. PG is know for trash talking other players on the court and on Twitter whenever he can, but after the 50+ loss against Dallas, PG and the whole Clippers team have disappeared out of the spotlight and concentrated on their game.
Since then, the Clippers are 7 and 3 and are on a three game winning streak fueled by PG who's averaging 25 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists so far this season. They're back in 2nd spot in the West and well on track to achieve at least the same result as last season. But no-one, including Play-off P, will be happy with anything less than the NBA title. He signed a contract extension to stay a Clipper after this year but if they don't go all the way, his buddy Kawhi could call their partnership early.
PICK #4
My fourth pick for this week's team is Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Greek Freak is the absolute star in Milwaukee, the reigning MVP and looking for his first title. The Bucks started the season slow and didn't look good in losses against the Knicks, Miami and the Jazz. But this last week, things are finally starting to click and the Bucks are on a 4 and 0 winning streak.
Giannis has been leading his team with great performances, decent shooting and his 20th career triple-double against Detroit. Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday are backing him up and role players like Bobby Portis and Donte Divicenzo are heating up when required. Giannis is not quite on his MVP-winning level but by the end of the season, he will be in that conversation again.
He will need to improve on his free throw shooting, though, that has been abismal so far, with an absolute low point against Dallas when he went one for ten from the line. Only three other players in NBA history shot this bad: Shaq, Andre Drummond and Al Horford. Giannis stayed back after the game and worked on his shot, if he keeps pushing himself, he will fix this problem as well. He won't let a few free throws stand in his way of a trophy.
PICK #5
The final pick for this week's All-NBA team is for Nikola Jokic from the Denver Nuggets. The Big Man is famous for his passing and this season, even more than before, he is dishing out some amazing dimes. Not only is his passing great, he is putting up great numbers all around. In 12 games so far he is averaging a triple-double: 24 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists per game. In those 12 games he has ended with at least a double-double every time. It's a huge surprise that Denver is only 6 and 6 at the moment.
This is where things are difficult for Denver right now, Jamal Murray is not yet playing like he was in the bubble and Michael Porter Junior only played the first 4 games of the season. After that he is was inactive because he tested positive for Covid-19. The front office didn't really replace Jeremi Grant after he signed for Detroit as a free agent and the role players are trying their best but are not exceeding expectations right now and they need to to lift Denver that little bit. Will Barton is a good player but he is no bubble-Murray.
The thing they need in Denver at this moment is time. Luckily, for now, they have plenty of time. Six and six puts them in shared eight spot, with 3 other teams, but only 2 games back from third spot in the West where they finished last season. If Joker keeps up this level of play for the rest of the season, Denver will claim their spot among the favourites in the West. And he might walk away with the MVP trophy this year as well.
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!