It is going to be hard for Booker to hit the 65 games (he can only miss 7 more games). I assume he wasn't going to when I left him off. There is almost no way Haliburton is going to make it. He only has 4 games left to miss.
Ant is not having great season. I would have Maxey over him. Gobert and KAT are driving the Timberwolves success.
PHO only has 27 games left. Playing 20/27 seems very doable for Booker. You may be right about Haliburton though
20/27 is very doable, but I would argue not for Booker.
Oh no doubt. Curry is going to make it but LeBron really shouldn't. Chet is playing really really well and DeRozan is having a great year on an island but I totally see Ant and LeBron making it over them. I was debating Maxey over DeRozan but DeRozan is playing so well in place without hope.
I'm not understanding the Ant criticism while propping up Derozan at the same time. Demar is having his least efficient year offensively in 5 years (by quite a bit), while playing his typical putrid defense and posting his trademark terrible on/off numbers (he's had a negative net rating 13 times in 15 years). His only positive is that he's been available (leading the league in minutes), and in the voting where only the top 15 make it, I doubt he makes top 25.
There are not 15 more deserving players in the NBA. He is averaging 25/7/8 on well above league average shooting
Because Ant has Rudy Gobert absolutely locking down the paint and KAT rotating in when Ant stabs and misses. His numbers are great but he has the biggest safety net in the NBA. It is like Elon Musk or Donald Trump saying they are a self made man. DeRozan is playing Alex Caruso, Coby White, and lucky fans that are given jerseys.
Gobert might get DPOY, but in the days of positionless all-nba voting, Gobert doesn't have a shot at making all-NBA. I'll agree that Ant is overrated defensively (he has moments when he locks in and is great because he's got the physical tools, but he's closer to 2022 Jaylen Brown in that regard than anyone up for an all-defense team). He's not remotely in the same discussion as Derozan, who will go down as one of the most overrated players of this generation because he's good at making difficult 2 point shots. Other than a 6 week stretch in 2022, Derozan has been a complete afterthought since being traded for Kawhi in 2018. Not even Bulls fans think he has a chance at all-NBA, it's legitimately jarring to see him even in this discussion.
And yet, as is almost always the case, his team is better with him off of the court.
That didn’t seem right to me, although I could imagine that some traditional box score/efficiency numbers might make that case. Doubly so given that those older metrics heavily favor bigs.
Good list. Paul George should probably be on there somewhere, although I am not sure for who
He's been dealing with a nagging groin injury the last month + it's PG so the chances for him to pop a leg or a knee randomly always exist.
Well sure, but he would need to miss nearly half of the remaining 29 games. I mean for sure possible, but I wouldn't label it as likely
Even if he hits the 65 game threshold, he's gonna have a hard time. He's a good defender but is 4 years removed from his last all-defense appearance and probably won't make it this year. His counting stats are down almost across the board, without a similar uptick in efficiency (other than fewer turnovers). There are just too many good players this year, and he's liable to get squeezed unless a couple of guys (Booker and Haliburton for sure) miss the games minimum.
I have no idea why you would think LeBron shouldn’t make one of the 3 teams. I’d have him on the 2nd myself as he’s been pretty remarkable this year in holding that team together. He’s having another great year.
Rudy has an excellent On-Off, but Ant has been better.
He is really really good for a 39 YO player. However he is not a top ten player anymore. If LeBron isn't LeBron or 39, he is the second best player on a play in team who plays a ton of one way basketball.
Rudy's on/off is going always be worse than Ant. Kat is on the court almost all the time Rudy isn't. The Timberwolves don't have a scorer to match Ant off the bench.
Lakers are middle of the road in both offense and defense. They aren't really a one way basektball team.
this LeBron slander is crazy to me. Name ten guys playing better than LeBron this year. and are you saying he doesn't play defense anymore? I don't think the eye test or any of the advanced metrics support that.
The LeBron doesn't play defense at all is something that Bill Simmons hammers all of the goddamn time. In reality, he definitely does take some plays off to conserve energy and because of his age, but it's clear to anyone with a set of eyes that he can absolutely lock in down there when he wants to
DeRozan shouldn't be near anything All NBA related. I mean, he's not even close.
I literally did. LeBron not being a top ten player doesn't mean LeBron sucks. He is still top ten wing in the league. Also almost no one plays defense anymore. Scoring is way up which dilutes his scoring average.
Absolutely yes. LeBron absolutely can still lock down but it takes a ton out of him. He is nearly 40. It is insane he is still a top 25 player in a league that is so much more athletic then when he came in. That said LeBron can't just show up and will his team to the playoffs like he used to. Outside of the bubble which worked to LeBron's age he probably hasn't been a top 10 player since he left Cleveland.
DPOY is going to Gobert
