Goeiedag, enchantée and welcome to this week's episode of Eight 2 Four presents: All-NBA Team of the Week. With the All-Star game only three weeks away and the starters being announced in less than a week, we wanted to honour some of the players that have been putting All-Star performances on the court but will most likely be snubbed for an All-Star selection by the fans. All season long, these players have been winning games for their teams but they're either looked at as a number 2 on their team or they're up against more popular players in their position around the league. Guys like Nikola Vucevic, who had a fantastic week for the Orlando Magic with 2 double-doubles and 42 points against the Kings, only 1 under his career-high that he set only last week against the Bulls. Vucevic is hot right now, but he's up against Embiid, Giannis and KD for a spot on the front court in the East. Right now, he is not even in the fans' top 10. Someone else in a very similar position is Mike Conley Jr of the Jazz. Conley has been the best player on the Jazz, in fact he is leading the whole league in plus/minus, but he's only the third guy on the team behind Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. Like every year, Mike will likely not make it to the All-Star game at all and will be going down in history as the best player never to make it to an All-Star game. Once the coaches have had their say, our five picks should be selected as reserves on the teams and rightly so. Get ready for our All-NBA team of the week.
PICK #1
Our first pick is Trae Young, All-Star guard of the Atlanta Hawks. Last year the fans voted him as a starter on the East team even though the Hawks were dead last in the East. This season, the Hawks are floating around the Play-in game positions 7 and 10 but Trae has dropped to the 6th spot. Trae's numbers were already impressive last year but they're even better this year. He is shooting less but at a higher percentage, getting to the line more often where he is almost perfect and he is dishing out assists left, right and center. He loves to find his buddies John Collins or Clint Capela for the alley-oop or draws in the defense on a splitting drive and throws it out for an easy 3. For opposing teams the task is simple, keep Trae out of the game because without him, the Hawks struggle.
The Hawks' front office did their homework in the off-season. They added experienced veterans around their young core with sharp shooters Danilo Gallinari and Bogdan Bogdanovic and two-time NBA champion Rajon Rondo. Especially the Bogdan-signing was a huge win for the Hawks, after the Bucks fumbled on that trade. The Hawks started the season as an outsider in the Eastern Conference. They have some building to do, the new players have to fit into the rotation but everyone expected the Hawks to do great things. Than reality kicked in, Rondo and Gallinari are older guys and both struggling with injuries. Both of them have only played in half of the games this season. And when they do, they don't make it past 20 minutes in game. Bogdanovic has been out since early January and there's been no update on his return so far.
Injuries are not the only problem in Atlanta. Earlier in the season there were reports that stars Collins and Young are not getting along off the court. Collins failed to come to an agreement with the front office for a contract extension and might be on the trading block. If that is the case, the Hawks will struggle to get to the Play-Offs because their best minutes are when both Young and Collins are on the court. Hopefully they'll figure it out quickly because someone of Young's talent deserves to be in the Play-Offs AND in the All-Star game.
PICK #2
Our second pick of the week is Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns. The Suns are a very similar story to the Hawks in the Western Conference but more successful. In the off-season, they added Chris Paul, maybe the best point guard to have ever played in the league. Wherever Paul goes, the team plays better. He has way of lifting his team mates to higher levels and he gets them to mirror his approach to the game. Even though he has never won a championship, he is one of the most sough after veterans to teach new guys the business that the NBA is. Back to Booker, Book is one of the most prolific scorers in the league. He can score from anywhere, at any time. And he is only getting better.
During his rookie year, Booker had the chance to play the great Kobe Bryant during his farewell tour. They went head-to-head one time during the 2016 season and Booker outscored his idol 28 points to 17. After the game, Kobe spend some time talking to Booker and he ended up signing his shoes. Kobe wrote: "be legendary". A phrase that has stayed with Booker ever since and it has been the foundation of his career. Booker's numbers keep going up every year but he rarely got the recognition for it. He was the prime example of a good player with great stats on a bad team. He only made the All-Star team last year as a last minute call-up for the injured Damian Lillard.
This year's different. With the Chris Paul addition, the Suns are in fourth spot in the West, leading the pack of second tier contenders. Book is by far the main man on the team, guiding the Suns to much deserves victories. Their currently on a 4-win streak with Booker scoring over 30 points in his last 2 games. Yet, he will be snubbed for the All-Star game again. In the West, there are only 3 guards that count: Curry, Doncic and Lillard with all 3 having at least 2 million fan votes. Number 4, Donovan Mitchell can't even crack half a million. Book, like Trae Young, is currently in 6th spot and would need to rely on the coaches to get into this year's selection.
PICK #3
Our third pick of the week is Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat. The Heat started the season really slow. Coming of the Finals against the Lakers, they were really banged up and had the least amount of time to prepare for this season. The front office didn't make many changes either as they were hoping that Giannis would become available and they wanted to keep the cap space. Eight games in, the Heat were 4 and 4 and everything seemed to be going to plan. Then they lost Jimmy for ten games and only managed to win twice. Since Jimmy came back, the Heat are 5 and 2 and sit in 9th, enough for the Play-In game but they have their eyes set on a spot within the top six.
Jimmy has never been considered a superstar. He was a superstar in the making while he was at the Bulls, but it never eventuated. He had a rough few years between leaving the Bulls and getting Miami to the NBA Finals, with unsuccessful stops in Minnesota and Philly. Since signing in Miami, he has been playing like a true superstar and carried the whole team on his back last season. First, he carried them to the bubble, then to the NBA Finals. His body is tired from last season, you can see it, but in this last week he is returning back to his normal level. In the double header against the Knicks he fell just short of a triple double in both games but he got it done against the Rockets on Thursday. His numbers are better than last season, across the board, except for his 3-pointers but he was never a big shooter anyway. Besides, the Heat have Robinson and Herro to take those shots.
One of the most interesting conspiracy theories in the league has it that Butler could be the illegitimate son of Michael Jordan. Since making his way to Miami, he is playing like he could be. Now that Miami is slowly returning to last year's form, Butler and his team mates have their eyes set on the Play-Offs. Nobody expects them to repeat their impressive run of last year but Jimmy Buckets won't be happy with anything less. Last year, Butler made it back to the All-Star game, something he hadn't done since his stint at the Bulls. He deserves to be there again this year, even though he missed half of the games so far this season. He'll just miss out on the fan vote, his in fifth currently on the Eastern Conference Front Court list, but maybe the coaches will give him a well-deserved selection.
PICK #4
Our fourth pick of the week is Khris Middleton of the Milwaukee Bucks, the most underestimated number two in the league. Middleton has proven to be an extremely reliable team mate for Giannis, the Greek Freak, but came up short last year in Play-Offs, when Giannis missed a few games against the Heat. That had to be his moment to show the world that he is a fantastic number two and maybe even more. It wasn't meant to be but we can't forget that they came up against a very impressive Heat team. Middleton is judged harshly by the American media and the only reason behind it, as far as I'm concerned, is that he is an unpretentious player in a very dull, small market.
Middleton ended up in Milwaukee after his rookie season in Detroit. Alongside 2 other guys, he was traded to the Bucks in return for Brandon Jennings. A fantastic young guard that lost way after his first season in Detroit and never fulfilled expectations. Seven years later, the Bucks clearly won that trade. Middleton has slowly improved each season and is now irreplaceable in the Bucks starting five. He has made the All-Star game the last 2 years but it looks like it could get difficult for him this season, even though he has been more important to the Bucks than Giannis. He is not in the fans' top 10 so he needs the coaches to get him in the selection.
The Bucks have a problem, a good problem. Their superstar Giannis is stepping up on big moments to take the winning shot, just like those other superstars that dominate the game. That's what he did against the Suns on Wednesday. The Bucks were down 1 with less than 3 seconds on the clock. The inbound pass finds Giannis who pulls up for a fadeway jumper from around the free throw line but he bricks it. In the right corner, Khris Middleton was wide open for an easy shot. Obviously, Giannis is a winner and he wants to take his responsibility. But it is time that the world, including his team mate, starts to see the value of Middleton. In my humble opinion, that will be the difference between winning or losing a championship for the Bucks.
PICK #5
The fifth pick in this week's team is Rudy Gobert from the Utah Jazz. The 2-time Defensive Player of the Year is averaging a double-double for the season so far with 14 points and over 13 rebounds per game. Besides Jokic, he is the best true big man in the Western Conference and is incredibly important to his team mates, grabbing rebounds and setting screens. The Jazz shoot more threes than anyone else in the league and having someone as Gobert grabbing the offensive rebounds, almost 4 per game, allows them to just keep shooting. Yet, Gobert isn't in the top 10 of fan voting.
He is up against some of the best players in the league for a spot on the team, Lebron is leading the list before Jokic, Kawhi, AD and Paul George. I understand that he is lower on the list than these guys but he should be at least among the following names: Zion, Wiggins, Christian Wood, Ingram and Carmelo. Just like our four previous picks, Rudy will have to rely on the coaches to include him into this year's team. It would only be his second selection to the All-Star team after making it last year alongside his team mate, Donovan Mitchell. He put up quite the show last year, playing 18 minutes off the bench, scoring 21 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.
Both Mitchell and Gobert's reaction after last year's All-Star game was the same: "This was fun but the only thing that matters is a championship." The Jazz want to win this season and have started the season very strong. Winning 21 games out of 26, they're top of the West at the moment, leading the Lakers and the Clippers. But their only focus is the Play-Offs. Last season they exited in round 1 against the Nuggets in 7 games and it all came down to a last second attempt of Mike Conley. It was a major blow for the Jazz and they are after revenge. Gobert, Mitchell and especially Conley are playing really well and Jordan Clarkson is number 1 contender for the sixth man of the year, averaging over 17 points per game coming off the bench. Keep an eye on the Jazz this year.
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