Basketball Buds on The Athletic NBA Show discuss:
0:00 Intro
4:40 MVP
7:32 DPOY
9:45 ROY
14:18 Coach of the Year
18:00 Most Improved
20:00 Other picks
28:42 Celtics or Bucks
31:42 Kings or Nuggets
33:51 Nuggets or the Field
38:28 Pacers or Thunder
11 Comments
Tatum won't win unless he puts up just absurd numbers because he's on the best roster in the league and won't get full credit for the Celtics record. Embiid has no chance. Actually, if its not Jokic I think Curry has an excellent shot if the Warriors bounce back and are a top 4 seed. He hasn't won it in years, is wildly popular, and no one will invent insane, deranged narratives against him. Mavs won't be good enough for Luka to win it. Giannis won't win because he's playing with Dame.
Having Dame on his team will hurt Giannis's case for MVP. And Jokic will probably get a make-up MVP even if it's close.
I'm a Nuggets fan, but unless a team is on the level of the 2017 Warriors you take the field. There's too much variability in outcomes.
RE: MVP, Jay is right…so is Josh…Jason Tatum doesn't shoot, rebound or dish out assists anywhere near as well as Jokic.
with all due respect, Zach is out of his mind to think that there isn’t a significant gap between Jokic & #2. Jokic the last 3 seasons has been as good as any of LeBron’s best seasons. obviously he isn’t competing with LeBron all time, but we’re talking about right now.
The eye role when it was suggested that Jokic could carry a team to the finals in a way (although they're very different players) that LeBron did was just dismissive. I'm not saying he's as good as LeBron or the 2nd best of all time, but he's only 29 and just look at his numbers. The only other players comparable to him are the other all time greats so dismissing that point out of hand feels more like a subjective bias than anything else. That's also the type of attitude we saw against the Nuggets all last season and then they wiped the floor with every team they played in the playoffs. Look at his playoff stats and compare them to the greatest playoff runs in history. Jokic is in the conversation. If that makes you roll your eyes, that's on you. However, I respect your knowledge and insight so I don't wish to let this comment reflect on your work or you personally. Jokic don't care though, lol. The west is stacked and repeating will be a challenge. Also, the Nuggets bench has yet to prove itself and has been getting beat bad off the glass.
Dude, Jokic brought a starting lineup of himself, Aaron Gordon, Jeff Green, Will Barton and Monte Morris to the playoffs and a 6 seed in 21/22. Way less talent on that team than less years Golden State squad. Austin Rivers was the 6th man on that squad. Jokic elevates EVERYONE!
Yes. Jokic is that much better than steph.
As long as there are no injuries, there's not a team in the league that can touch Denver.
Finch is not getting fired Lolol. He’s been amazing. Best offensive coach in the nba
Denver fan perspective: everyone outside of Denver is always 1.5 seasons behind on how great Jokic is. I think he’s the most TALENTED player in NBA history. Imo he will be considered a top 10 all time player (provided he gets another championship or two.) He very well could continue to carry this team to the finals every year, but he’s definitely a different player than Lebron and we’re in a different time in NBA history. Lebron Vs Kobe was basically all about individual performance etc. I also believe that the West right now is significantly more difficult than the east back when Lebron was on his runs obviously. It will be an absolute miracle if we pull off another championship run this season without Bruce Brown to bolster bench minutes. Malone has hamstrung our bench for years with absolutely useless lineups. He insists on 3 G lineups with undersized/old PFs. This season he won’t have to be ability to play shitty old PFs so that helps a bit. But, he will play Reggie, Braun, Holiday, (someone), Nnaji and it’s going to be awful. He has this consistent habit of putting trash lineups in, expecting it to work, getting red faced- then panic timeout. Then Joker comes in and saves him. The problem is: his undersized lineup work one in six games. When they’re working he gets this smug look and overplays the unit until they are even and they have lost all momentum.