NBA Award Predictions (MVP, Rookie, DPOY, Etc.) | 2025-26 NBA Season Preview

Summary

No Dunks Podcast Episode Summary

Episode: NBA Award Predictions (MVP, Rookie, DPOY, Etc.) | 2025-26 NBA Season Preview
Date: October 13, 2025
Hosts: Jay Skeats, Tas Melas, Trey Kirby, JD (Super Producer)

Overview

In this episode, the No Dunks crew delivers their annual NBA awards predictions for the 2025-26 season, breaking down favorites and dark horses for every major honor: MVP, Most Improved, Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man, Defensive Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, and Clutch Player of the Year. They weigh Vegas odds, debate narrative factors, and provide deep-cut insights plus some offbeat, classic No Dunks banter.

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Key Discussion Points & Timestamps

1. Setting the Table: The Guys Warm Up

• [01:35–04:01] Banter about Thanksgiving, Blue Jays baseball, and Harry the Hawk’s performance at the Atlanta Pride Parade kicks off the show.
• Typical No Dunks flavor with light jokes and mascot mayhem before hitting NBA topics.

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2. MVP Predictions

• [04:11–17:22]
• Favorites:
  • Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic, Luka Doncic, Giannis, Wemby, Anthony Edwards
• Picks:
  • Tas: Luka Doncic – “I think he’s the healthiest he’s been in his NBA career… there’s the recipe for like what he did with the Mavs, but I think he’s even healthier, to be honest.” (06:00)
  • Trey: Nikola Jokic – “If you can look at him on the odds boards and he’s not number one, why not, right?” (09:24)
  • Skeets: Jokic – “I think he’s going to get his fourth here because they should be a good team and obviously he’s going to have the stats.” (14:45)
• Dark Horses: Cade Cunningham (“Cade, the SGA of the Eastern Conference” (15:30)), Victor Wembanyama (if Spurs win 50 games), Jalen Brunson, Donovan Mitchell.

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3. Most Improved Player (MIP)

• [17:22–28:02]

• Favorites per Odds: Amen Thompson, Deni Avdija, Andrew Nembhard, Benedict Mathurin, Asar Thompson, Matas Buzelis.

• Picks:

  • Trey: Victor Wembanyama – “I think he will be on actual MVP ballots by the end of the season … so it’s way down there on the odds, but I’ll take Wemby.” (18:17)
  • Tas: Asar Thompson – “He’s going to be given the leash, especially with this new Pistons team with Malik Beasley gone.” (21:35)
  • Skeets: Shaedon Sharpe – “He went monster – 30 point per game scoring games … he’s turning into sort of a lead guy there a little bit.” (23:13)

• Dark Horses: Jalen Johnson (“If he stays healthy… he’s awesome and he’s going to have a huge role for Atlanta this year.” (25:15)), Nikola Jovic, Reed Sheppard, Cam Whitmore.

• Notable Stat: MIP often coincides with a player shooting abnormally well from three for one season (24:34).

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4. Rookie of the Year

• [29:32–37:52]

• Overwhelming Favorite: Cooper Flagg (-220 at time of recording)

• Picks:

  • All agree on Cooper Flagg.
  • Runner-up buzz: Ace Bailey (hosts highlight his scoring opportunity for the Jazz) (31:29).

• Other Notables: VJ Edgecombe (“could have the best highlights of any rookie.” (32:43)), Jon Hansen (Portland big may have monster numbers in spurts), Heat rookie Yako Chonis (“has a kamikaze element to him. He’s like jet fuel…” – Erik Spoelstra, 36:38).

• Key Point: No 65-game minimum for ROTY; stats matter much more than team wins (33:26).

• Fun banter: “Chili Con Canipple” as a fantasy name for guard Con Knipple (34:57).

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5. Sixth Man of the Year

• [40:05–45:50]
• Favorites: Naz Reid, DeAndre Hunter, Josh Hart, Ty Jerome, John Collins, Jordan Clarkson, Anthony Simons.
• Picks:
  • Tas: Dante DiVincenzo – “I think DiVincenzo’s going to have a lot bigger role … he’ll put forth some good numbers.” (42:04)
  • Trey: Josh Hart – “Last year, nine triple doubles. He just fills up the box score … Josh Hart’s kind of do it all in.” (43:15)
  • Skeets: Khalil Ware (Miami Heat) – “Averaging 20 and 11 in preseason … this is the guy’s numbers I was looking at.” (44:14)
• Dark Horses: Ty Jerome (pending Ja Morant’s health), Tari Eason (if Jabari Smith Jr. starts), PJ Washington.

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6. Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY)

• [46:22–53:36]
• Favorite: Victor Wembanyama (-185)
• Picks:
  • Trey: “It’s Wemby. The only question is if he hits the requirements on games played. He’s Deion Sanders-esque, takes up half the court…” (47:13)
  • Tas: Wemby, pending 65-game threshold: “This is his award to lose.” (47:57)
  • Skeets: Dark horse: Evan Mobley (won last year and “these guys can repeat, three peat, win four of these things.” (52:11))
• Others Noted: Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo, Paolo Banchero, Dyson Daniels, Ivica Zubac (+10,000), acknowledging that team defense can help secondary candidates.
• Fun nickname alert: “French Vanilla” for the Wemby–Cornet frontcourt. (49:40)

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7. Coach of the Year

• [55:06–59:58]
• Favorites: Mosley (Magic), Snyder (Hawks), Bickerstaff (Pistons), Mike Brown (Knicks), Udoka (Rockets)
• Picks:
  • Trey: Joe Mazzulla (Celtics) “If the Celtics aren’t bad, it’s going to be because they run up and down the court and chuck threes.” (56:58)
  • Tas: Quinn Snyder (Hawks) – previous runner-up, narrative plus an innovative coach (57:57)
  • Skeets: Stays chalk with Jamahl Mosley (Magic) as the favorite—Magic to improve 10–12 wins. (58:51)
• Other Names Discussed: Rick Carlisle (Pacers, 25:1), Mitch Johnson (Spurs), Ty Lue (Clippers), Erik Spoelstra (Heat), Kenny Atkinson (Cavs).

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8. Clutch Player of the Year

• [60:18–64:11]

• Favorites: Jalen Brunson, Anthony Edwards, Kevin Durant, Luka, Jokic.

• Picks:

  • Trey: Trae Young (15:1) – “He’s a clutch player and he’s going to have the opportunity to show his stuff.” (61:38)
  • Tas: Steph Curry – “They’ll get to the last few minutes and they’ll give him the ball…he’s already won it.” (62:23)
  • Skeets: Kevin Durant – “Purely because of narrative reasons… they basically went and got this guy for this reason—hey, we need clutch shots.” (63:31)

• Meta note: SGA and Jokic’s candidacies may be docked if their teams win too easily and avoid close games.

• Bonus Banter: Who will be “the best player never to win Clutch Player of the Year,” and jokes about Hustle Award metrics. (64:16)

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9. Final Notes & Notable Moments

• [65:31–71:18] Keegan Murray’s injury discussed as it relates to the Kings’ season outlook and potential impact on over/under picks.
• Banter closes with fake Executive of the Year picks: “I think they gotta scrap it. It’s a team. It’s a front office award. They gotta do multiple guys” (71:51)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Luka’s narrative: “He is a perennial preseason MVP favorite. As we exercise every freaking year.” – Jay Skeats (08:29)
• On MVP fatigue: “Do you feel like voters are itching to give Jokic a fourth MVP or the opposite? ...I love that debate.” – Jay Skeats (10:03)
• On Wemby as DPOY: “He’s Deion Sanders-esque in that he takes up half the court. And unfortunately for the offensive team, it is the half underneath the basket.” – Trey Kirby (47:20)
• On MIP voting: “The most improved player trophy may need to be renamed the player who happened to get hot from three trophy.” (24:34; quoting Zandrick Ellison from NBA Reddit)
• On Coach of the Year trends: “There’s three trends. It’s either coach of the best team, coach with biggest turnaround, or overachiever vs. preseason expectations.” – Jay Skeats (57:13)
• On the Clutch Award: “Who do you think is going to be awesome the last two minutes of a game?” – Trey Kirby (61:24)
• On naming conventions: “Chili Con Canipple… that sounds more like a fantasy name, something you could come up with.” – Trey Kirby (34:46)
• Best running gag: “French Vanilla” (Wembanyama + Cornet defensive tandem) (49:40)
• On the oddities of stats: “Everybody knows the [Hustle] award is decided using a metric known as hustle stats…” – Trey Kirby (64:27)

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Additional Notes

• The hosts repeatedly emphasize the importance of health (65-game rule) for award eligibility and the impact of team context/narratives.
• Throughout, the crew provides both statistical logic and narrative-based reasoning for each category, often offering listener-friendly explanations of odds movements and potential surprise picks.
• Characteristic No Dunks verbal flair and camaraderie lighten up a detailed, stats-heavy discussion.
• Listeners are continually encouraged to play along, submit their own picks, and interact with the show on social media.

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For First-Time Listeners

This episode is a quintessential No Dunks experience—insightful, funny, and filled with both sharp NBA analysis and offbeat, brotherly banter—perfect for getting ready for the 2025-26 NBA season or catching up on the season’s juiciest award races.

Transcript

[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Tas Melas]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Tas Melas]

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[Jay Skeats]

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[Tas Melas]

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[Jay Skeats]

Good morning, sweet world, and welcome to the no Dunks podcast. Monday, October 13, 2025. I'm Jay Skeats here in the classic factory and alongside me as always, Tas Melas.

[Tas Melas]

Happy week before the NBA regular season, everybody.

[Jay Skeats]

Next to him, it's my top shot, hot boy Trey Kirby Ayo. Hey, yo. And over yonder, making the magic happen, super producer D. JD you know it's.

[Tas Melas]

A whole new setup over here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jay Skeats]

Before we get into it, I have three bird related questions. SL comments first one Go. Happy Thanksgiving to all of our Canadian friends and family. I hope that turkeys the turkey leftovers I assume at this point are hitting most people do Thanksgiving. I feel like on Sunday, not Monday.

[Tas Melas]

Totally.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

I didn't know that.

[Jay Skeats]

Oh, at least in our family.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, sure.

[Jay Skeats]

So enjoy your leftover turkey. 2. What do you think of the Blue Jays lost last night? We're going to bounce back here down one of the Mariners.

[Tas Melas]

Yes, yes, yes. I. Cause I'm always positive. I flashback to the 1992 World Series. We saw one home run in that game by Damon Berryhill. A three run jack for the Atlanta Braves catcher. They lost three. One, I think so. It was a similar game, low scoring.

[Jay Skeats]

Okay.

[Tas Melas]

One ding dong like yesterday where Kevin Gman giving up. Give it up to the big dunker. What a weird nickname.

[Jay Skeats]

Dumper, not dunker.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, sorry, I'm in a basketball mode. If you look at him, I guess so.

[Trey Kirby]

He's got a big dumper.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. They'll be back. Game two.

[Jay Skeats]

Okay. Today. Don't they play at like four o' clock today?

[Tas Melas]

Four?

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

Man.

[Jay Skeats]

Two baseball games on today.

[Trey Kirby]

Messed up like that.

[Tas Melas]

That's strange.

[Jay Skeats]

And then the third bird related question. How was Harry the Hawk at the Atlanta Pride Parade?

[Trey Kirby]

Harry was great. Always love to see Harry. The Hawks always show up for the pride parade. Some years Harry will have like a rainbow plume on his head. One with the standard black and red skin look. Or I guess red feathers look. But yeah, you know, Harry saw me, I saw him. We started pointing at each other.

[Jay Skeats]

Oh, nice.

[Trey Kirby]

Even executed a high five, which I thought was pretty impressive. Since Harry was riding around on a bird scooter, I was a little worried for him.

[Jay Skeats]

Oh, geez. Yeah, he's on a bird scooter too. Put a bird on him.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeats]

All right.

[Tas Melas]

Those are big feet for a scooter too, right?

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Impressive. Look, when you're a mascot, it's risky.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

You might get hit in the nuts. When you're out there in the environment, you got to be able to balance on a scooter. Just like that. People going crazy for you. But yeah, hit me with a thumbs up. Thumbs up to you, Harry.

[Jay Skeats]

Nice. I like the photo. Good stuff. All right, well, let's get into the reason we're here today. Continuing our NBA season previews, we've done the east and west over under podcast. We did the first time all star draft. Hey, Boozelis, looking really good. Oh yeah, there's a lot of Boozelis buzz right now here in the preseason. But on today's show we're doing our NBA award predictions. This is always one of my favorite pods. We do all season long seeing how what we think of who's going to win these awards and some dark horse picks and all that. Talk it through. So let's start with the big one. Let's get right into it. 20, 25, 26. MVP. Now these odds coming by way of fanduel. All of our odds are the favorite Right now, shay, Gilgeous, Alexander plus 160 and you got Jokic plus 300, Luka plus 400, Giannis plus 1200. Same with Wemby and then Anthony Edwards rounding out our MVP table, I guess, you know, we always have six at the table plus 2500. So who do you like going into? 25, 26 here. And then again, we can later on get into some, like, dark horse picks if you want. Unless maybe a dark horse pick is your guy.

[Tas Melas]

No, I'm picking Luka Doncic, who is a bit of a dark horse, I would say, not as far as the odds go, but everyone taking Shai or Jokic or Giannis, I suppose. But Luka Doncic I think, has some things to prove this season. I think a lot of things are going to have to go right for the Lakers. It'll start because he's going to score a lot. With LeBron James out the last year, Luka didn't receive one MVP vote, and I think he's going to be focused on that five years straight. Before last season, he received received MVP votes. Now I think he's the healthiest he's been in his NBA career. I think last year playing beside LeBron James plays a factor in that. This guy who's going to be 41 is going to play in the most games in NBA history is a bigger factor than me, for me, than seeing Luca on the front of a Men's Health magazine look and fit. I think just being beside LeBron James, learning that having that pride will help him out. That being said, they're going to have to win 50 games, so things are going to have to go right defensively around him. But I'm buying in. I'm buying into Jared Vanderbilt, I'm buying into Marcus Smart and buying into a bigger man playing center and DeAndre Ayton. So there's those factors. But I think what we saw from Luca, just as far as Eurobasket in the summer and as far as leading his Lakers teammates in these, these team.

[Trey Kirby]

Excursions, it'd be cool if he practiced.

[Ryan Seacrest]

He practiced.

[Tas Melas]

He's practicing.

[Trey Kirby]

He's not playing yet, though. They're not doing anything in preseason. Luca and LeBron.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. Is that going to be a factor?

[Trey Kirby]

I think no, I don't care about that either.

[Tas Melas]

No, there's one. There's one guy you know can carry the ball and carry out the offense over and over and over again. He doesn't need to play in games. He has to be healthy. And he is healthy. They're Just not putting him into games. And so yeah, he ain't playing with LeBron, but other guys are being around him and I think they just need that camaraderie. And there's, I think there's the recipe, there's the recipe for like what he did with the Mavs, but I think he's even healthier, to be honest. This is me looking in. Just feels like it. He feels like he's ready to go.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. It was his first not healthy season last year. Only 50 games, so he didn't qualify for awards, which is why he didn't get any votes. But I think Luca has maybe the most interesting case of the top three guys because he has the worst team. Between the Thunder, the Nuggets and the Lakers, everybody has the Lakers behind Denver and okc. Jokic's team got better. In particular their backup center slot got better. So the on off numbers maybe don't look quite as jarring when you do it. Shea go just Alexander just won every award last season. We could see Jalen Williams take a step forward, we could see Chet Holmgren take a step forward. And a little uncertainty, I think about how into the regular season the Thunder are going to be this year. Kind of feels like Shay would need to win 70 games to win a back to back MVP, which is kind of tough. So I understand why you're going with Luca, but I've gotten burned so many times. He's always getting the votes, but he hasn't been able to go over the top. I think we talked about it on our over under pod. Like Lucas, teams barely win 50 games during a season. He's not a big regular season guy, but he's gonna win an MVP at some point in his career. So why wouldn't it be the first year he plays with LA and gets the media buzz behind it as well.

[Jay Skeats]

He is a perennial preseason MVP favorite. As we exercise every freaking year, I feel like some one of us, yeah, maybe it's Trey, usually now it's you. One of us takes Luca, we're like.

[Tas Melas]

Oh, it's gotta be. Oh, I did a couple years ago for sure. Yep.

[Trey Kirby]

I, I back to back that at one point for sure.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, yeah. And you've got the little negatives against other guys that I think that is part of it. The Jokic side going to the bench and his team falling off I think helped him. But I think being that his bench is better, his numbers, sheer numbers, won't be as good. He won't have to do as much. He won't have to shoot as as much. He won't have this 30 point triple double. I don't think he's going to play as many minutes. He has career high end minutes last year. So there's that. The Shea thing with the wins total is, is important. I think he's gonna, there's gonna be some sort of drop up, but you could easily vote Shea again. They're gonna be the number one seed probably.

[Jay Skeats]

Yes. Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeats]

So who are you going with ultimately here?

[Trey Kirby]

I'll take Jokic.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

I kind of feel like we just every year. Is it going to be Jokic? Is it going to be somebody else? Give it to somebody else who's deserving, then go back to Jokic. That happened with Embiid, then Jokic won. One happened with Shea last year when it easily could have been Jokic. The guy did average a 30 point triple double while shooting almost 60% from the field and 40% from three. If he approaches those numbers like he's going to be double digit rebounds and assists for sure. But if he drops off to 27 points per game, is it that that big of a deal? Everybody agrees he's at worst the 1 1/2 best player in the league. He actually is the best player if you ask me. So I think if you can look at him on the odds boards and he's not number one, why not, right?

[Jay Skeats]

Here's a question for you. And I heard the, you know, ball guys sort of debate this. Do you feel like voters are itching to give Jokic a fourth MVP or the opposite? And it's like less likely because then you're going into rarefied air with sort of a fourth one. I can't decide. I love that debate. I'm like on one hand maybe like you're saying, Trey, it's always like this bounce back and everybody's like, well, he's the best player in the world. I mean, he's always in the mix. Maybe they flirt with 55 to 60 wins. There's that part of the equation as well. Maybe they're the number one seed. Probably not. I would go with okc. Or it's the opposite. It's like, no, no, no, we're not doing that. Because voters get like scared for some reason that he's like on this short list. What do you think?

[Trey Kirby]

I think it's a good way to anoint somebody the best player of their generation. Because when you go and look at the people who have won four plus MVPs, it's the best players of their generation. And we haven't had a guy do it since LeBron. Jokic is the best player since LeBron, so I kind of think it would be a way to give him history going forward. So maybe that bolsters my case. And you know, the fact that he didn't win it last year. People don't like the all in a row MVPs. That's why they change it up for some reason. And that's not an issue for Jokic this season.

[Jay Skeats]

What do you think?

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, there's the multiple factors. They got to be good. They have to improve. Number one second thing, it would help him if he had a second title, I suppose, to be able to give him four MVPs. There's that part. But he's freaking Jokic. So. Yeah, the fact that he didn't win last year, it gives voters, I think, a little reason to vote for this guy. But she could easily win this thing also.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah, the GM survey, which we just got last week, late last week from our guy John [e-mail] the GMs picked Jokic to win his fourth MVP award this coming season. So they're along this line of like, yeah, maybe just to give it back to him again, the number we. The numbers with all these guys in theory are going to be there. Like, they're unreal. What these four guys, if we include Giannis, quite frankly, into the mix, it's. It's hard to pick anyone else besides one of these four guys winning this thing just with the stats they put up on the good teams. I mean, Giannis and the Bucks, like he would have a case if they surprise because you said the Lakers are below the Nuggets and the Thunder. Well, the Bucks are way below those other three teams. So, you know, it would have to be Giannis carrying them with his crazy stat line. It's possible. I think I see some people sort of backing him for another third mvp. That would be for him after he went back to back in the day. So I just struggle to find anyone else having a real chance at this right. In today's NBA. Because these four guys are elite.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, Giannis's numbers are ridiculous. I think maybe they're too, too involved for people like 30, 12 and 60%. Maybe 60% is just too much of a stat. I mean, for people to get really. I mean, it's not, it's not a good enough stat. It's not a points better than Jokic. Yeah, Jokic will be interesting considering his heaves won't even Factor into his stats.

[Jay Skeats]

Oh, percentage is going up.

[Tas Melas]

Jump up a couple. He literally would have been 2 points higher in the 3 point percentage. But, yeah, the other guys, it is difficult. I totally agree. When we had our conversation about who's at that MVP table, I threw in Jalen Brunson, because I think the Knicks are just going to be really good in the Eastern Conference. Donovan Mitchell, that's why he's here on. On the odds board as well. Strict numbers. They're going to win. Right? I mean, so.

[Trey Kirby]

I think. I think both Mitchell and, to a lesser extent, Brunson, but definitely Mitchell, like, his best chance was last year. They won 64 games. He took a step back, which kind of hurt his counting numbers, but he was a better player and the Cavs were such a good team. I think the Knicks would have to approach 60 wins for Brunson to be the guy, and he would have to do clutch player of the year stuff again, which we'll get into. Maybe he will. He'll still have the opportunities for sure. But last year seemed like a good chance for both of those guys.

[Tas Melas]

Totally. I think the number that the Lakers have to get to is 50 wins for Luca to be involved. What is it for Giannis, for the Bucks? How many wins do they have to have? They have to be significant. Probably. It's probably 50, I think.

[Jay Skeats]

Oh, at least. I think. I almost think at this point, with the talent like we went through here, of these elite guys, like, you have to be a top three seed, it feels like. So in your conference, at the very least. So that's. You're getting into the 50 to 60 win mark somewhere in there. But he'd have. The. Giannis would have that narrative, like, everybody's like, this team sucks. And like, he could again, in sort of a weakened east, like, he could carry them to a lot of wins. I think they're going to hit the over. They were one of my teams, one of my locks, in fact, to hit whatever their, you know, mid-40s sort of line was there from Vegas. I think they're going to eclipse that. If he plays. That's what you said, Trey. You know, he's got to play. Once Giannis is removed from that lineup. Oh, my God. Like, I don't think. I don't think Kuz is going to be able to carry it. You know, Miles trying, man.

[Trey Kirby]

Trying his best.

[Jay Skeats]

Gary Trent Jr. And Kevin Porter. Yeah. For the record, I'm going with Jokic. I'm with you, Trey. I think he's going to get his Fourth here because they should be a good team and obviously he's going to have the stats. My dark horse pick, sort of like off the board. We showed you cade Cunningham at plus what, 550 to 100. Excuse me, more than that. 15 is he? No. 1500 is he?

[Trey Kirby]

No, he was 5000 to 1.

[Jay Skeats]

Thank you.

[Trey Kirby]

Plus 5001.

[Jay Skeats]

I wrote it in my notes wrong. I'm like he's not plus 500. Plus 5,000 for Cade Cunningham. That's my dark horse. Because he averaged 26, 9 and 6 in 70 games last year. There are still rooms for improvement in his game. I saw Danny Green calling him Cade, the SGA of the Eastern Conference.

[Tas Melas]

Whoa.

[Jay Skeats]

I sort of get the comp what he's saying. Like they're both like mid range assassins. But Cade's got to get a little bit better. A little more average with his three point shot and better at finishing at the rim. He just needs to get more free throws as well, get some easy points that way. Point is, if the Pistons jumped up another level, he's going to warrant MVP votes like he did last year. He got a few end of the ballot votes. So he's a dark horse pick in this. Anyone else?

[Trey Kirby]

He was the best off the board pick, I thought because I think the Pistons compared to a guy like Paolo Bonchero has a little bit better odds than Cade does. I think the Pistons have just a little bit less talent on their team. So you're looking at Cade more so as the number one guy. Whereas when you're talking about the magic, it's is it Paulo, Is it Franz? They at least have a chance at two all Stars and that's not the case for Detroit.

[Jay Skeats]

And then why not Victor Weyama? Why not here in year three?

[Trey Kirby]

The only reason is wins like this. The spurs would have to win 50 games. He's going to be, we're going to get to defensive player of the year. If he gets to 65 games, he's going to win defensive player of the year. He's the best defensive player in the league. So can he average 28 points per game and shoot 40% from three? It's possible. And I think if that's the case, people will vote him MVP as long as the spurs are winning.

[Jay Skeats]

LeBron finished number two in MVP voting in his third season. We had Derrick Rose, I think Wes unselled at 22 years old, win MVP. That's where Wembanyama will be at the end of the season. So it's like if you're building the case and then you're just like, I think it's Wemby time now. Yeah, but you're right. The winds. Are the winds going to be there for San Antonio at that. It's got to probably be around that 50 win mark, at least in the Western Conference, because then you're near the top.

[Tas Melas]

Yes. And will he play the 65 games? I know that's the question. It's a boring question, but that's a part of it. Yeah, they got to win. And we'll get to the guys playing around him. When it comes to defensive player of the year, that is a factor. So we'll get to that.

[Jay Skeats]

All right, so you have Luka, we have Jokic for the record. Play along here in the stream team. Let's hear your picks. Let us know in the YouTube comments. Tweet @ us. No dunks Inc. Alright, next one here. Let's go. Most improved. Amen Thompson, the favorite right now. Plus 950. Denny Abdia of the Blazers, Andrew Nemhard, Benedict Mathurin, Asar Thompson and Matas Buzelis are all plus 1600. This is one of these awards that even FanDuel and all the odds makers, they're like, I don't know, not really sure.

[Trey Kirby]

Put two brothers and two Pacers on there.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah, that's right.

[Trey Kirby]

So two white guys.

[Jay Skeats]

What do you think? Trey, again, is a difficult one to predict, but where are you leaning?

[Trey Kirby]

Well, you know who I'm leaning towards, but I'm not going to say it. I'm just happy that Boozelis made the board 16 to 1. Better odds than Josh Giddy, who was 18 to 1. Yeah, I think that was kind of funny. My pick, not on the board. Victor Wembanyama, most improved player.

[Jay Skeats]

Oh boy, here we go.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I love it to one. You're like, that's crazy. There's no way he could be an MVP candidate and also win most improved player. Look at Ja Morant, 2122 Season 1 Most Improved Player finished seventh in MVP voting. You're telling me that's not reasonable for Victor Wembanyama, who has zero accolades in his career so far.

[Jay Skeats]

Right.

[Trey Kirby]

Only because he didn't play enough games last season. But it means he's available to be voted for on all of this kind of stuff, especially most improved player. It's kind of at times been a junior MVP vote. Like we see you come in next, so let's get out ahead of things. I think he will be on actual MVP ballots by the end of the season. He'll get some fifth place votes, maybe some fourth place votes, depending on how much the voters favored defense. So it's way down there on the odds. But I'll take Wemby.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah, it's interesting because last year's MIP winner, Dyson Daniels, that was sort of like a throwback most improved winner in a way. Because like you said, Trey, we've had a lot of winners like John Morant, Julius Randall, Tyrese Maxey, guys that already scored 20 points per game like in seasons prior. But then we're like this coronation of sorts, like, oh, you've really leveled up to All Star, all NBA. Yeah, I get the case for Wemby, for mip.

[Tas Melas]

I think it's a good pick.

[Jay Skeats]

Okay.

[Tas Melas]

Especially because it's a, it's an open board. It's pretty open. But yeah, we know Wemby is going to take that next step. And if he doesn't win mvp, then voters will say, okay, well, we got to click check them for something. Now the defense player of the year is a part of it, but to me, this could easily be the Wemby year. Yeah, the coronation. It reminds me of the Einstein gumpo. It was year four for Giannis when he won Most improved Player. And I do think it was after year three where we were on NBA TV and I called him the most overrated player going into year four. And that's when he did it. Because people were saying he was already anointed, he was already the All Star. And I found the stats, you know, you can't do that. I was a little stat oriented. He hadn't taken that next step. Wemby could be taking that next step. It could be the Wemby pick. I don't, I don't see why averages.

[Jay Skeats]

Like, what does he have, 24, 11 and 4 or something like that?

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. So he can't improve enough now.

[Trey Kirby]

He's been training with Matt Bonner.

[Jay Skeats]

I, I, yeah, it's, I mean, yeah, like you said, is he going to average 28, 13, you know, three blocks plus.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, go get that quad double. He'll be the only, the fifth player to get a quadruple double. If you want to get into stats. Yeah, it could happen.

[Jay Skeats]

So you're picking Wemby as well?

[Tas Melas]

No. Oh, no. That's a great, it's a great pick. I find the board is hilarious because as you said, two Pacers, two brothers, two white guys. I mean, it's really, it's really the most improved player. I like the Asar Thompson pick because I think he's going to play way more. He was in these three to four minute spurts last year because of the blood clot issue. So he wasn't playing a ton for J.B. bickerstaff. I think J.B. bickerstaff will and has to buy into Sar Thompson more. He didn't do that enough last year. He just did not. I think it's his time. He's going to be given the leash. Especially with this new Pistons team with Leak Beasley gone. They need somebody out there to make plays now. Jay Nivey coming back as well. They're going to feel it out. I don't know who Malik Beasley's betting on if he still bets, but he should bet on a Sar Thompson. That is such a strange scenario. The guy will probably be playing basketball this season. Tbd. But yeah, the. It's hard to pick from that board. That's why Wemby's a good one. Even if you want to go deeper like the Nemharden one, I mean it's like, it's fun because he's a guy who gets better in the playoffs and we've most recently seen him take that step from regular season to playoffs. They're awesome. Now is it. Is it his time to take over for Tyrese Halliburton as the guy? Now these are kind of like if, if you want to write the narrative, these are kind of like his playoffs. You got to go in and you got to be the guy. But history says that's not true. His regular seasons just aren't that good in comparison to the playoffs. So I can't. I can't get behind it. But he obviously is that talented.

[Jay Skeats]

There are like two buckets. I think for most improved there are candidates who just get increased opportunity. These guys are saying Andrew Nemhard, Benedict Matheran. I think a lot of Celtics guys would fall into this sort of bucket. Maybe Derek White, Peyton Pritchard, Sam Houser, stuff like that. Michael Porter Jr. New role in Brooklyn. Now you need usually some wins with mip. I get that. But then there's the whole other side of just like these guys that are like breakout stars like these prospects. The Amen Thompson. I think Brandon Miller could maybe be on this list. The Boozelis is of the world a guy. I'm going to pick Shane Sharpe. I'll go with Shane Sharp as a. Not even. I mean he's off the board here, but I don't think he's super far down there. He's probably plus 2500. So I'll go sharp as.

[Tas Melas]

That's a good one.

[Jay Skeats]

Now I'm, I'm like obviously I'm looking in what happened at the end of last season when nobody cares at the end of the regular season he went, he was having some monster like 30 point per game scoring games. There's no scoot sort of in the mix right now. He's like turning into sort of a lead guy there a little bit.

[Tas Melas]

So they need offense.

[Jay Skeats]

I'll go with him. They need offense.

[Tas Melas]

He's going to put up numbers.

[Jay Skeats]

Great note. I saw in doing a little research for this from Zandrick Ellison. What a name on NBA Reddit. He noted that the most improved player trophy may need to be renamed the player who happened to get hot from from three trophy because he went back and looked in many cases the winner was a player who just shot well above their career average from 3 that particular season and then immediately dropped down back to their normal averages. So the premise here is that most improve is a bit of a funky trophy. It's tough to predict this one. That's why Wemby again like you said with crazy long odds, maybe he does shoot 40% from three and that would obviously that'll get you from 24 points per game to 28, 25, something like that. But I'm going sharp, you are going Wemby Wemby.

[Tas Melas]

And ultimately you're going I'm going a sar Thompson. Although the, the Ben Matheran's awesome. Super fun as well. Especially with Halliburton out who's going to score but he's coming off the bench last year. Is he just be going to be pushed in to what is is his contract year? So an increase 3 point percentage would be the time to do it. That would be. I don't know. That's why all these guys are questions.

[Trey Kirby]

I think I would favor Nemhardt over Matheran just cause Benedict Matheran scored 16 a game last year as the main option for the Pacers off the bench. Whereas Nemhard was 10 points per game. He's going to improve on that for sure. Just with more opportunity playing a bigger role on the offensive end. If you're choosing a Pacer for me, it's nem hard.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

But if you're, if you're talking about a guy that needs to overperform three point shooting a star. Thompson is easily the pick here. He shot 22% from three. If he shoots 30 we're like whoa, he's a marker. Dale Ellis out there, he's so improved.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah. Yeah. Any other dark horse picks you want to show some love to?

[Tas Melas]

No.

[Jay Skeats]

Most improved anyone?

[Trey Kirby]

Jalen Johnson, 50 to 1.

[Jay Skeats]

Wow.

[Trey Kirby]

Wasn't eligible for an award last year. Had a massive improvement. Could have been an all Star but only played what 30 games I think for the Hawks. If he stays healthy, he's awesome and he's going to have a huge role for Atlanta this year. Jovich, I think at 25 to 1 is interesting. Reed Shepherd, 30 to 1, didn't play hardly at all and now is going to be a massive piece for the Rockets.

[Jay Skeats]

It's interesting no one is picking the favorite here. Amen Thompson. A lot more talk about Asar Thompson. I just like I'm interested by that. Like have we over indexed? I mean we as in the Internet and all the other media members on like is Amen Thompson suddenly almost overrated because we're so excited for him and he's so fun to watch and the potential we see there but maybe slow down on it.

[Trey Kirby]

He was a breakout star last year I think is the problem for me. Amen Thompson more so than Asar, who was kind of lost in the shuffle because he started the season on the injured reserve list, came back and like Tess is saying, kind of was in and out of the lineup. I think that it's more enticing to look at Asar, especially because you figure the Pistons are going to need one of their young guys to pop this year.

[Tas Melas]

So many headlines for Amend Thompson last year. In comparison to a Sar Thompson, it's probably like 90% to 10%. ASAR wasn't talked about it a lot. The Jalen Johnson one. Also interesting because he could be anointed as a most improved player, breakout player number one because he plays and number two, if he doesn't make the All Star team, you got to give him. You kind of give him something, you know. But his numbers were really good. It is a little like Shane Sharp. They Both average between 18 and a half and 19 points per game. Good numbers. So how much are they going to improve from that? Yeah, I could see Shane Sharp doing it without Anthony Simons there. They literally need somebody to score a ton so he could.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah, that's why like when you're picking between two Pacers to win mip, like you were saying, Trey, it's like you almost have to add like it feels like a seven to eight point per game increase. So it's like more likely that Nemhardt is maybe 17, 18 points per game than maybe Benedict Matheran who already averaged 16 points per game up to, you know, 23, 24. It's still possible he's only going to get better as a player. But yeah, that's maybe the issue with Sharpe. I guess I'm banking on. He is sort of flirting around, let's call it 24 points per game. Really good season and obviously the Blazers have to surprise and you have to sort of be the lead guy. The only other name I have. I'm just interested to see Cam Whitmore, after two sort of disappointing seasons with the Houston Rockets, obviously caught up in the shuffle of so many guys there and on the bench. Now he goes to Washington just to remind everyone that's where Cam Whitmore is. Sort of gets a second chance here. I think he could double his point per game total just with opportunity. So that's like a narrative at least. Like, whoa, man, guy is obviously really good. I think he's at plus 4,000. So that's my dark horse.

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[Tas Melas]

And Doug Here we have the Limu.

[Jay Skeats]

Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug Limu.

[Kraken Advertiser]

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[Jay Skeats]

Cut the camera.

[Tas Melas]

They see us.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty.

[Jay Skeats]

Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Fairy underwritten by.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Liberty Mutual Insurance Company Affiliates.

[Jay Skeats]

Excludes Massachusetts. Let's go to Rookie of the Year. Is anybody taking anyone besides Cooper Flagg? Who's the odds on favorite? - 195 by way of FanDuel. And then you do have a bunch of other guys at +1000 and VJ Edgecomb, Ace Bailey, Trey Johnson. Then you got Dylan Harper plus 1400. Knipple plus 1800. I will say from the time I've made this board to now, at least the last I checked, FanDuel, it's even changed a little bit. Flag is now minus 220 to win rookie of the Year. Trey Johnson remains at plus 1000. Ace Bailey, Edgecomb, they've dropped to plus 1100. Harper dropped a little bit too. But get us started here, T.K. you know, I assume you're taking Cooper Flag, but maybe then who you have second on your list.

[Trey Kirby]

I do think Flag is the favorite here for a reason, and I don't know exactly when you made the board, but he played against the Hornets and looked awesome. So it's like, okay, this guy is going to do it. Especially when you factor in he's got the rare chance as a rookie to have great production as a rookie and be on a team that's pretty decent. Like he's going to be a key piece to a Mavs team that's at least hoping to make the playoffs in the Western Conference, if not go farther. So I think him playing on both sides of the ball, being a do it all kind of guy, defense, playmaking, scoring, like, he looks like he's going to be unstoppable in transition already. That's why he's the favorite so heavily for a second favorite guy. I think Ace Bailey, I think he's probably going to lead all rookies in scoring. There's a ton of opportunity on the Jazz. He looks like a taller, skinnier Carmelo Anthony out there in preseason, and the shots are going to be there. He looks more comfortable as an NBA player than he probably did as a college player. So I think Will Hardy is excited to have this guy. You see pictures of him, he's just like hugging and smiling like, how did we get Ace Bailey at number five? So I think if he leads the draft class in scoring, he's going to get a ton of votes.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, it's a good pick because Rookie of the Year quite often goes to the guy who has a lot of opportunity. Lowry Markkanen will be allowing Ace Bailey to do whatever the heck he wants on that team as will Will Hardy. So he'll have plenty of shots. It's definitely going to be Cooper Flag who wins it because he's going to have plenty of opportunity because they need some guard play. So I think Jason Kidd is going to give him the ball a ton. You want to make some narratives. Wow, he's a point guard, he's a point forward type of thing. That could happen. He's going to have the highlights both offensively and as you said, defensively. He'll cover everybody. He'll track from three point line to the rim over and over. He wants it. He seems like he's got that dog in him. So I think it's. It's his. It's hard to go down the board. Ace Bailey's a good pick. I think vjkum is a decent pick because he'll have opportunity without.

[Jay Skeats]

Will he?

[Tas Melas]

I think if Edgecombe is playing again, that's a. That's another question. But he should. He should be. Yeah, I think.

[Jay Skeats]

I mean, I love.

[Tas Melas]

Who's gonna take. Who's going to take the.

[Jay Skeats]

Well, they have a lot of guards when they're all guards, when they're all healthy. I mean, you got maxi, you got McCain, the guy who was probably going to win Rookie of the Year last year until he got hurt. Yeah, Quentin Grimes.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, McCain.

[Jay Skeats]

I think he might be squeezed a little bit here, but yeah, we'll see. Then again, their guys are always injured, so maybe he gets an opportunity.

[Trey Kirby]

Exactly right. If he's the one that stays healthy. I think Vijay Edgecombe could have the best highlights of any rookie.

[Jay Skeats]

Oh, yeah. Yes, for sure. A few things to remember when you are making your Rookie of the Year picks. First off, no 65 game minimum for Rookie of the Year eligibility. So I was going to ask you guys, how many games does this Cooper flag have to play to sort of lock up Rookie of the year 50, half the season. You know, I wonder what that is. I know it depends on how the other guys are doing behind them, but you know, Patrick Ewing won this thing with 50 games played way back in the day. Brandon Roy only played 57. I think Embiid played 31. 31. And hence Malcolm Brogdon ended up getting that one. But look, you get far more flexibility when it comes to this award. When it comes to injuries, team performance doesn't matter.

[Trey Kirby]

No.

[Jay Skeats]

So you can be on the worst team.

[Tas Melas]

You can be a concan nipple.

[Jay Skeats]

You could be concanipple and counting stats tend to play an outsized role when it comes to Rookie of the Year. Like whoever has sort of the most points, rebounds, assist, sort of add them all up, you have a really good chance, especially points. We've never had a Rookie of the year winner average single digits in points and in the past two decades.

[Trey Kirby]

I'm glad to hear that.

[Jay Skeats]

In the past two decades. Here's a little trivia question for you. Past two decades, only two. Two guys were below 15 points per game that won rookie of the year.

[Trey Kirby]

Brogdon.

[Jay Skeats]

Brogdon, of course, because he got hurt.

[Tas Melas]

No big numbers of 18.

[Jay Skeats]

It's last year.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, Castle.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah. Stefan Castle. Somewhat of a weak class, I guess, but he got it done.

[Trey Kirby]

Wow. Michael Carter Williams almost 17 points per game.

[Jay Skeats]

There you go. There you go. All right. So everybody's taking Cooper flag and sounds like Ace Bailey a bit of a favorite for maybe runner up.

[Tas Melas]

There will be some conconnectal headlines, I think. I think he is a guy who gets after it can score. Arla Mello. Are they going to give him the ball? Brandon Miller. They can give him the ball enough is the question for him to put up points. But he's. He's got it. And maybe Flamella misses games, then con canipple gets more opportunity. He can score, that's for sure.

[Trey Kirby]

He looks savvy. I was trying to think of like a con canipple Halloween costume because, I mean, the guy's got the name, the word nipple in his name. So it's like Chili Con Canipple.

[Jay Skeats]

I don't.

[Trey Kirby]

That sounds more like a fantasy name, something you could come up with, but.

[Tas Melas]

I don't know, like a.

[Trey Kirby]

Like a nacho hat and a Hornets jersey or something like that. Still got enough time to brainstorm ideas.

[Jay Skeats]

Chili Con can two other rookie of the year super dark horse picks. What about Jon Hansen?

[Trey Kirby]

Hey, just had a great third quarter.

[Tas Melas]

Oh, man.

[Jay Skeats]

I mean, now he's sort of a guy too. There's a lot of bigs I think he's going to play. I think the Portland trailer is going to play him a little bit, but they have some bigs there in the rotation. Clingan, of course, I mean Time Lord when he plays and he's still on the roster. But you could see him having. He's going to have like a monster month. Like probably March, the numbers this guy is putting up and he'll like get in the conversation.

[Tas Melas]

Man, a monster highlight reel, people.

[Jay Skeats]

He's got some great dimes for sure.

[Tas Melas]

The NBA YouTube page will be putting together some big clips and not only for. For Asia, just for us to watch. He's fun to watch. As Danny Abdia said, the. The give and go with me and him. It's going to work. You're going to see some beautiful passes. The clips. I'm already Seeing him just driving by centers in preseason, in practice, in his own practice where he just goes by like he can go buy them. I'm getting sucked in cooking. No, I, I was trying to name the name, but he is just. He's a camp invite so I forget his name already. But he's. He's off center. He can spin from the mid range and go buy anybody and then, and then he hangs at the rim. He's fricking a big boy.

[Jay Skeats]

Oh, he's going to be. He's going to be on rookie of the year ladder lists on NBA.com or the Athletic or ESPN guaranteed at some point. I'm telling you, it's going to be like probably in March that he'll like sneak onto these lists. I'm pretty confident about that. The only other guy, in all honesty, again, dark horse pick because Cooper's going to win this. But heat rookie Yako Chonis.

[Tas Melas]

He'S good.

[Jay Skeats]

The GM survey voted him the biggest steal of the draft, so they're fans of him. I think he's going to have a bigger opportunity now that Tyler Herro is out at least to start this season. Spoelstra's talking him up. He said, quote, he has a kamikaze element to him. He's like jet fuel. Just immediately feel his energy and his speed, end quote, unquote spo there. So I think he could get some stats. I think it might get. It might get a chance at least.

[Tas Melas]

Kasparis Yakushonas. I got sucked in during summer league. I did. He's very good. And since we're naming great names like that. The son of Cerrunas Marcelonis is in the NBA.

[Jay Skeats]

Augustus, Augustus, Augustus. Watch out for the chocolate factory. I was going to say.

[Tas Melas]

Is that a movie?

[Jay Skeats]

I was going to say chocolate river, but I also have the factory victory instead. He got sucked up the tube in the river, didn't he? Augustus.

[Trey Kirby]

They're gonna call Gloop.

[Jay Skeats]

That's a cool. Yeah, I didn't know he was in the league.

[Tas Melas]

He's on the Lakers. I think he may be a two way guy. So, you know, okay, maybe he's playing. Yeah, he's on an Exhibit 10 contract with the Lakers.

[Trey Kirby]

Watch out for the chocolate factory.

[Tas Melas]

Chocolate factory is happening, man.

[Jay Skeats]

All right. Lots more awards to make our way through. Through. But before that quick ad break, Peloton.

[Trey Kirby]

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[Jay Skeats]

Oh hell, arms mode today.

[Trey Kirby]

But I did see another instructor offering Ricky Martin Yoga. What Ricky Martin Yoga? I might go upside inside out and live La Vida Yoga. The cup of Life. That was another Ricky Martin song, I think, right?

[Tas Melas]

Not sure.

[Trey Kirby]

Hard to remember the second single from Ricky Martin.

[Tas Melas]

He said some.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, he said apparently enough for an entire yoga class.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, I guess so.

[Trey Kirby]

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[Tas Melas]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jay Skeats]

Tubby little guy, wasn't he? All right, let's keep it going here. Doing our NBA award predictions. If you're just joining us live on YouTube, hit the like button. Subscribe Share the Show podcast listeners 5 star ratings and reviews Taz, I'm going to start with you on this one. Sixth man of the Year odds again by way of FanDuel got seven names on this list because we got sort of a tie at the bottom, but nas Reed and DeAndre Hunter are the favorites at 1000. Josh Hart with the Knicks plus 1100. Ty Jerome with the Grizzlies plus 1400 and then three guys at the bottom there, John Collins, Jordan Clarkson and Anthony Simons all at + 1500. I find this one difficult as well, task it is. Where are you going?

[Tas Melas]

Some of those guys are going to be starting, I would say.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah, yeah, I agree. And some of those guys are not even like sixth men. Like, they're going to be like seventh, eighth.

[Tas Melas]

Right?

[Jay Skeats]

Men.

[Trey Kirby]

Two necks on there.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah, right, right. And Deuce McBride might be also great choice.

[Trey Kirby]

Sure.

[Tas Melas]

So I'm going way off the board. I'm going with Dante DiVincenzo in Minnesota. I think he's going to have an increased role. Nikhil Alexander, Walker Gun. Mike Conley getting a little bit older, and he was part of the Carl Anthony Towns, Julius Randall trade where they get dealt on October 2nd. They weren't ready for the regular season. You could see he wasn't ready. He wasn't into it. He wasn't himself. Started the season slowly, but after the All Star break, like Julius Randle, they picked it up a notch. He shot 44.7 from three after the All Star break. You know, going 37% before the All Star break. You don't often see that unless it's these games that don't mean anything for a lot of these teams where a guy gets way better. Those games did mean something for the Minnesota timberwolves. I think DiVincenzo is going to have a lot bigger role. Like the year before with the Knicks, where we all were thinking, well, they're getting a really good guy here from The Knicks is 15 and a half, almost four assists, almost three rebounds, near 60% true shooting percentage, 40% from three. So the numbers will be like that. He'll. He'll put forth some good numbers. Will this team be good enough? I think that plays a part here in six, man. Not all the time, but I think it'll help the Timberwolves that they got this guy who's going to play a ton of.

[Jay Skeats]

So you're taking him over Nazrit.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeats]

Who obviously has already won one of these. Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. He's gonna score more. I think Diving Chancellor could score a good amount.

[Jay Skeats]

Where are you going with this one.

[Trey Kirby]

TK I'm taking a Nick. I like Josh Hart.

[Jay Skeats]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

For sixth man of the year, because he's technically the sixth man right now, but he's just a sixth starter, so there are going to be times when he's starting and he's definitely going to close games. Depending on the personnel for the other teams, you know, Mitchell, Robinson, file trouble or availability, I think is good news for Josh Hart. Last year, he led the league in minutes per game, finished second in total minutes. That's not going to happen again because he's going to be starting off the bench at least, but he's still going to play a ton. He's still going to produce a ton. Last year, nine triple doubles. He just fills up the box score. And I think that that's something that's important when it comes to sixth man. Like you do want to see high scoring totals, which is why DiVincenzo, Nas, Reed are really good picks. But I think Josh Hart's kind of do it all in. This puts him over the top for me.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah. DeAndre Hunter, he probably will be starting, right? Yeah. With Schuss out and then. And then the Celtics guys, I wish I knew who was coming off the bench and who has really started. Like, is it Simons and Pritchard or Hauser? It's like they all would have a case if I felt confident that they're coming off the bench. But I'm not entirely sure and I think I'm not even sure Missoula is. At least in preseason we've seen some sort of mixing and match in here. I love the Harp pick, but I'm actually going to go way off the board here and I'm going to go with Khalil Ware. Yeah. Now is he starting or not? Like, he's not starting in the preseason here beside Bam. Unless Bam wasn't playing. He started that game, so he refuses to start him. He's been. He's looked really good in preseason. This is the guy's numbers I was looking in preseason before we started the show. Guys.

[Trey Kirby]

Tell me about his rebounding numbers. I know he got better. I saw it in Miami Heat tweet that said he, Khalil Ware has improved rebounding. It was just a rebound highlight. Didn't do anything else. Just grabbed a defensive rebound that looked awesome.

[Jay Skeats]

Well, he's averaging 20 and 11 in these four preseason games that he's played. He's hitting three pointers. He's hit like two per game in these games. Like, he does look good. I'm like not joking here. I think he should be starting, but for some reason Spo wants to go smaller.

[Tas Melas]

So 20 and 11 off the bench.

[Jay Skeats]

He does pretty bad. He's winning this. Yeah. Pretty good. Yeah. And he came off the bench like nearly 50% of the time last year. I don't know. He could be starting and this could look very foolish. So I guess my other pick, I like the Josh Hart. I like a Nick winning this. I think if I ranked him, I would go. I'd probably go Josh Hart then McBride, then Clarkson. I'm a little surprised Clarkson is this high with these odds, but I'll go Khalil just to keep things interesting.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, it kind of makes sense that he's coming off the bench in that they want to allow Nikola Jovic to play. But also Jaime Hawkes has been starting alongside Norman Powell because maybe you want a guy who's really good offensively to come off the bench. You know that they're going to give the ball to and do some things. So maybe you're throwing Hawkeyes into the starting lineup. So it's a decent one.

[Jay Skeats]

Plus 2,700, I believe for wear again, Dark Horse 6 Man of the year pick. But let's hear from you guys. This is a tough one because even like Ty Jerome, I think a lot of people would be backing that. But we have the Ja Morant injury already. Maybe he's back. Maybe he's not early to start the season. Does he get slotted in there?

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. Who's starting on these teams like Tari Eason, I think should be a factor here. Yeah, he's a great player for the Rockets, but there will be times where he starts. But it's probably going to go to Jabari Smith Jr. Yeah, I think so. And so targets will come off the bench and that guy can shoot it.

[Trey Kirby]

I'm seeing Alan you here in the stream team saying I'm taking PJ Washington for six man of the year. Dallas is another who's starting for this team. I think he's 25 to 1 right now and still with the suggest. Could it be RJ Barrett if he doesn't get traded?

[Jay Skeats]

I guess it. Yeah, it could be. Put on some numbers.

[Tas Melas]

For what team? Is he going to be the sixth man for the Toronto Raptors?

[Trey Kirby]

Nah, I don't you think he's going to start the whole year?

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, that's tough.

[Jay Skeats]

That's why this one's tough, man. You got to figure out what the lineups are.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeats]

And. And then of course, injuries come into play and guys get slotted up and all that. That's why the Nas Reed one is probably the safest. Like sort of bet like Nazride is going to very likely just come off the bench for 80 games. Yeah, right. Have some monster games like you said. A couple 30 point games here and there. Hit some big shots late. So that's like the safe bet. But you know, he. He just won. Did he win last? No, he won two years ago, right? Two years. Yeah. All right, let's go to defensive player of the year. Victor weminyama, the favorite, minus 185 odds on favorite. And you got Chet Holmgren plus 650. Amen Thompson plus 1600. Same with Anthony Davis and then Dyson Daniels at plus 2000. No Mobley on this list, which is a little interesting. He won defensive player of the year last year. I don't think the Cavs are going to fall off a cliff defensively, but Trey, get us started. Where are you going? And then we can get to Dark Horse.

[Trey Kirby]

That's Wemby. The only question is if he hits the requirements on games played. Last year he led the league with 176 blocks. He played 46 games. According to crazy stats on Twitter. That is the fewest games in NBA history to lead a major category. Points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks played half the season, led the league in blocks. He's clearly the best defensive player in the league. He's Deion Sanders esque in that he takes up half of the court. And unfortunately for the offensive team, it is the half underneath the basket. People are scared to attack him in half court. People are scared to go against him in fast break scenarios. And he can block three pointers as well. So the only way Wemby doesn't win defensive player of the year until he's 30 years old is if he doesn't play 65 games.

[Tas Melas]

This is an award that usually goes to a big guy. Give it to the biggest guy. This is his award to lose if he doesn't reach that 65 games played number. Gosh, hate talking about numbers so much. And that's why this is maybe something that the NBA gets rid of at some point. Do we have to play 65 games? Or maybe just at some point here, especially since they signed this new TV deal, or maybe everyone is a little less worried about tanking. Maybe you just get rid of it because that's the whole reason for it. But anyways, I do think Mitch Johnson, the head coach of the spurs, will allow him to do whatever he wants. And Mitch Johnson getting a training camp here, I think will help him with Wemby because they have to be good defensively.

[Jay Skeats]

I was going to ask that. I was like, this is the one fascinating part with the Wembanyama as defensive player of the year pick. Like, what if they are still defensively as a team, you know, bottom third, I guess they're the 22nd ranked defense. It won't happen.

[Trey Kirby]

They were top five in defense when he plays.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah, yeah, okay. But even then, like, I think they could be like they could be middle of the pack as a team. The defensive stats and the metrics and all that. And just the highlights. Of course. Guys are just terrified to shoot. Like, don't try and shoot like an up and under against him. Like he gobbles it up on the other side of the rim because his arms are so damn long. Yeah, but I was going to ask that, like, how bad could he. They still be as a team for him to win?

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. His first year they're a 22nd team ranking and so that was the. My reason. You can't give it to this guy last year. Yeah. Top five when he played. They were 20th before he got injured. So they were really bad when he went to the bench. That being said, they should be way better.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

With Luke Cornett being behind.

[Jay Skeats]

French Vanilla. Wendy and Cornette together. French Vanilla. Not bad.

[Trey Kirby]

It's really good.

[Jay Skeats]

I forgot who came up with it. That's the Internet for you.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, yeah. No, they're going to be way better. Some people said. Well, does that actually hurt Wemby's case for defensive player of the year?

[Jay Skeats]

Because the cornet beside it.

[Tas Melas]

Well, no, just. Just the fact that somebody comes off the bench. You can play defense and so you know, there's not the. The drop off and. But that I don't. Yeah, I don't get that. I mean, yeah, the team has to be good enough now the defenders around him, maybe you can. You can poke some holes. We'll see what Darren Fox can do out there. Devin Vassella has never been that steady. Harrison Barnes is getting older. But you throw out Jeremy Sohan, you throw out Carter. Bryant's gonna play at some point. He's freaking good. Nah, it's just about 65 HP. 65 games played.

[Jay Skeats]

The only number that matters for this one.

[Trey Kirby]

Led the league in blocks. Would have finished top 50 in steals and top five in defensive rebounds. What else do you want?

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah, French.

[Tas Melas]

French vanilla. Then when he goes to the bench, they gotta sit down, be umbo if they need a third guy. Bismack Bamboo can get out there.

[Trey Kirby]

Bernie Mode. See, Bismack bio has the worst plus minus in NBA history since he came into the NBA.

[Jay Skeats]

I saw this.

[Trey Kirby]

He's been on a lot of bad teams.

[Tas Melas]

Bad teams.

[Jay Skeats]

I saw you share it though, and there was a lot of Bulls names. Who was it?

[Trey Kirby]

Vuchovic, Lavine? I forget who the other guy was.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah, there was one more.

[Trey Kirby]

It was definitely Vuch and Levine All Stars.

[Tas Melas]

Hold on. Why Mo Vernie Mode? Does he say down when.

[Trey Kirby]

When Biombo was really rolling with the Raptors there. He was convinced that song was Sit Down Beyond.

[Jay Skeats]

Wow. You don't even know you're referencing MO at this point. It's just absorbed into you. So Wemby's winning this, but my dark horse pick is a guy that I sort of threw in there to start this conversation. It's Mobley. I mean the guy did win last year. He was on the 8th ranked best defense in the league. They could be better. And this is the type of award we've seen over time at least where guys can like repeat three peat, win four of these things. In the past 30 years, we've had four separate guys, Mutombo, Ben Wallace, Dwight Howard and Rudy Gobert win the award at least three times. So reputation matters when it comes to DPOI at 25 to 1 odds for a guy that just won the award, that's only going to get better and should still be on a good defense. I don't think it's that far fetched if we doesn't hit 65.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I think that's a great pick.

[Jay Skeats]

Right, right.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, there's a little dabble in there for Anthony Davis, who's never won one. It's a narrative. Like maybe he can depending what Dallas is. That all depends what Dallas is. But yes, if the voters come down to let's look at the top defensive teams, AD may receive some votes.

[Jay Skeats]

Well, that's interesting you bring that up because again, this is considering or hypothetically saying Wembley doesn't play 65 and win this thing. Could the Miami Heat have a top five defense? I think maybe. Would bam. Warrant some votes as sort of the lead guy there? Could the Magic have a top five defense? Yeah, they probably will. They probably will have the top defense. Who gets the accolade there? If it's like this idea of a team award, maybe Jalen sucks. Maybe that would sort of be like Dyson Daniels, like I guess in that regard. And then my, my dark horse pick, my legit pick would be if the Clippers have a top five defense again, Evita Zubots could warrant some, some votes. And he's like at + 10,000 on this board here for defensive player of the year. He had, he had like basically the exact same defensive rating as Wemby last year. So he's really good on that end. It's not as sexy as Wemby highlights that we see defensively, but he is solid, very solid. Now the concern is the Clippers might lean towards more offensive centric players this year and they have a lot more of them. But if Zoo keeps that defense in the top five, I think he could warrant some votes at the very least.

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[Tas Melas]

And Doug, here we have the Limu.

[Jay Skeats]

Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insur and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.

[Kraken Advertiser]

Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us.

[Jay Skeats]

Cut the camera.

[Tas Melas]

They see us.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty.

[Jay Skeats]

Liberty, Liberty Liberty Savings.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Very unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company Affiliates.

[Jay Skeats]

Excludes Massachusetts Coach of the year. Let's do it. Mosley with the Magic plus 600. Snyder here in the Hawks plus 650. Bickerstaff with the Pistons plus 1000. Same with Mike Brown with the Knicks. And then Ime Udoka plus 1300. Who wants to get a start?

[Tas Melas]

Question about Jamal Mosley's zip up here that we see on the graphic. If we're looking at why all the specs, all the dust, that's an it.

[Trey Kirby]

Needs a lint roller.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Holler at Drake.

[Tas Melas]

Lint roller. Good one. Hold on back to. Because we have the Kendrick Lamar in there. Sit down, Biyombo. You're giving our friend Mo Vernie the credit for coming up with Sit down.

[Jay Skeats]

I'm just saying it got into your brain. I'm sure you read it back in the day.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, I didn't. Well, I'm not from overnight.

[Jay Skeats]

You don't think Mo Vernie came up with it?

[Tas Melas]

No way.

[Jay Skeats]

Okay, cool.

[Tas Melas]

Other people now I read it for sure from both. No, somebody else. Somebody else.

[Jay Skeats]

Moyambo, who you got for coach of the year?

[Trey Kirby]

None of those guys.

[Jay Skeats]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

Too many teams with expectations on there. You need the magic to exceed expectations. For Jamal Mosley to win, you need the Hawks to do it. You need the Detroit Pistons to do it. Of those three, those are kind of like the odds are saying which Eastern Conference team do you think is going to overperform? I would take Quinn Snyder of the top three, but I'm going off the board for this. I think it's between Joe Missoula and rick Carlisle. Missoula's 15 to 1. Carlisle is 25 to 1. Rick Carlisle hasn't won it since 2002. And everybody agrees. Hall of Fame coach, one of the best in the league. Nobody expecting anything from the Pacers this year. They were one of my overs. I think they could exceed very low expectations. But Joe Missoula is officially my pick at 151 plus 1500. If the Celtics aren't bad, it's going to because be. Because they run up and down the court and chuck threes.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

And that's basically Joe Missoula ball. The guy also gives crazy press conferences. You know he's going to be hilarious with the media and he will get a lot of credit for getting the most out of a team that took a real step back. Losing four of basically their top six players.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah. If you look back at the previous coach of the year winners, there's three trends. It's either coach of the best team, which happens from time to time, obviously. Just like an Elite team wins 65 plus games to give it to that coach. Coach with the biggest turnaround. That's usually first year coaches like slotted into a new opportunity. So maybe Mike Brown with the Knicks, but they'd have to win a lot more games. And then where you're going, Trey, Sort of this idea of like the coach with the biggest overachievement based on preseason expectations. The Celtics, the Pacers, because of injuries to their star guys, they're like sort of down in the Eastern Conference and maybe they shock a lot of people and can get it done. Those are they, they make sense, both those picks to play. That last trend. Oh, everybody thought they weren't going to be good and they're still good. That's great coaching.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. I like the Missoula pick. I can, I can see this, the narrative for it for sure. Also, Jalen Brown is saying we're, we're tired. We're running so much right Now. And so he's trying, he's trying to get these guys to work harder. As his assistant coach Sam Cassell said, it's the hardest training camp I've ever seen. Yeah. Will it resonate? I think they have so many scores. There's a possibility that, yeah, they could put up a lot of points. I'll lean towards the board here for guys that are expected to over produce. And it's Quinn Snyder for me for the Atlanta Hawks. He's an innovative coach. I think you'll see Kristaps Porzingis in that slot. I think there'll be lots of methods that'll get good storylines for him. And he's also been voted second and third in coach of the year voting before and maybe he finally gets one here. So he is appreciated.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah, it does feel a little bit like who wins the East. Right. Because. Or at least top two, let's say because the Magic to get up there in the top two, they're winning probably 10 to 12 more games than last year. Same with the Hawks. You know, the Pistons obviously maybe make that jump. And those are the three favorites right here when it comes to this award. I'll go Mosley. I think we're getting to like. Yeah. Who do you sort of trust more? Is it going to be the Hawks or the Magic to. To win 10 to 12 more games and sort of go up a level. I'll go Mosley as the favorite. Plus what, 600? Yeah, not too bad either in terms of value.

[Tas Melas]

I think Mitch Johnson for the spurs will get some votes. He's appreciated. This guy was just thrown into the fire last year. Hey, you're replacing Pop all of a sudden this year he's got a training camp. If they're good, then he gets the votes for sure. I wonder if Ty Lue will ever win one. He's a great coach.

[Jay Skeats]

He's never won one.

[Tas Melas]

No.

[Jay Skeats]

Eric Spolster still has never won one. But yeah, maybe this is the year. If it's open and they shock a lot of people. He's at plus 2,000.

[Tas Melas]

A lot of candidates.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. Roberto Aguilar saying here in the Stream team, if anyone outside of OKC wins the west, they should probably win Coach of the Year. That's not bad.

[Jay Skeats]

Right. So we're expecting Battleman. Yeah, yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Yep.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah. Yeah. Maybe it's the. Maybe it's Reddick with the Lakers, I guess.

[Trey Kirby]

Sure. Yeah.

[Jay Skeats]

A little far fetched. Maybe Tyloo. Yeah, that's a good way to put it.

[Tas Melas]

Outside. Outside. Udoka.

[Jay Skeats]

Yep, yep.

[Trey Kirby]

Basically, one guy's not going to win it. Kenny Atkinson.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah. Yeah. Because no one's ever gone back to back.

[Trey Kirby]

He has the same odds as the Nets, Bulls, Jazz and Wizards coach.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Even though. Yeah, obviously the Cavs are going to be good. Repeat winners do not happen in coach.

[Jay Skeats]

No, no. I mean, even Mark Dagnal was a great ex. They won 68 games last year. We're setting records left and right. Missing key guys, obviously, just showing off, incredible depth. All that and it's like, no, he can't win again. They were already good. We already gave him Coach of the Year two years ago. Can't do it to again. That's a great point, Kenny being so low. All right, our final award here. I guess it's a part of the major awards now. Clutch Player of the Year blessings. Yes, that's right. Brunson is your favorite plus 8. 50. Anthony Edwards plus 900. Same with Durant. Then you got Luca and Jokic rounding out our list here by way of FanDuel +1000. This is so. It's a funny award to try and predict. Who do you think's going to do well in the clutch?

[Trey Kirby]

Who do you think's going to be awesome the last two minutes of a game?

[Jay Skeats]

Who's won this thing? We started with Fox, we had Curry and then we had Brunson last year.

[Trey Kirby]

That's right.

[Jay Skeats]

Those are our three Clutch Player of the Year winners. Okay, so can Brunson make history?

[Trey Kirby]

Go back to back for the first time ever?

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah. What do you think?

[Trey Kirby]

He's got a chance. I'm taking Trey Young plus 150015 to 1 odds, finished fourth in clutch player of the Year voting last season. The Hawks went 21 in 20, 21 and 20 in the clutch. Believe it or not, they were.500 in the clutch. Still, that's the eighth most wins in the clutch last season. I think they got a better team this year, therefore, they will have more wins. And I still think Trey will be the main guy when it comes clutch time. Handling the ball, making plays are more likely pulling it from 30ft, hitting the cool game winners that make their way around the highlight factory. So, yeah, Trey Young, for me, a little bit off the board, but the guy's a clutch player and he's going to have the opportunity to show his stuff this year. With the Hawks taking a step forward.

[Tas Melas]

I'll take Steph Curry. He's clutch. Yeah, he's good.

[Jay Skeats]

Good pick.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. I think they'll get to the last few minutes and they'll give him, the ball. We'll see. A lot of Al Horford passing to Steph Curry to shoot that thing. They got to win games. And I think Steph is going to put it on his shoulders to score on this team. He's already won it. You forget about that. I forget about. I just forget about. Yeah.

[Jay Skeats]

I forget about this award.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's funny how we go through it, though, but, yeah, Steph's. If there's anybody who should win it multiple times, no disrespect to Darren Fox and Jalen Brunson, It's Steph. So I love GM survey.

[Trey Kirby]

I think you got the most votes for who you want with the ball at the end of the game, Right?

[Jay Skeats]

It's a good pick.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, it's a good one.

[Jay Skeats]

I can't wait for this award. Like, how long will it take? I don't know, maybe five or six more seasons where then we'll have debates like, can you believe so and so has never won Clutch Player of the Year? How's Jokic? Never had a clutch player. How has SGA never had. You know, for example, it's going to happen. My pick, purely because of narrative reasons. Give me Kevin Durant. And they basically went and got this guy for this reason. Hey, we need clutch shots. I believe he can still hit those shots because he's unstoppable. Getting to his spot, rising up. So, yeah, kd, I think the Rockets are going to win a lot of games. He just needs a couple game winners under his belt. Obviously, the stats and the opportunity, that's a part of it. I guess that's why, like, maybe SGA is not even on this list. Maybe even Jokic Lower. It's like, you do have to be in, like, close games, like, to give yourself a chance to help your stats. Right. So, yeah, I'll go. I'll go.

[Tas Melas]

Katie, though, OKC didn't have those last year.

[Jay Skeats]

No, no.

[Tas Melas]

So she couldn't join the fun.

[Jay Skeats]

Yep. All right, those are our picks for the seven awards. Let's hear from you guys. Your main picks and then your dark horse picks and all that fun. Got a little bit of new.

[Trey Kirby]

No love for the Hustle Award. Player of the Year award is ridiculous. How about the Hustle Award?

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah. Can you bet on the Hustle Award?

[Trey Kirby]

I didn't see it on FanDuel. Do you know who the defending Hustle Award winner of the year is?

[Jay Skeats]

It Dyson Daniels.

[Trey Kirby]

It's not. I'm surprised because, of course, as everybody knows, the Ward has decided, using a metric Known as hustle stats, which tracks defensive and offensive efforts such as diving for loose balls, taking charges, deflections, setting screens and contesting shots. Everybody knows that.

[Jay Skeats]

Everybody knows that. Marcus Smart has won a couple of these.

[Trey Kirby]

He's a three time.

[Jay Skeats]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, he's coming back this year. He hasn't played a lot.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah, sure has. Draymond, Green one.

[Trey Kirby]

Draymond is the. Is the reigning defending.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeats]

Oh, okay.

[Trey Kirby]

Remember all that diving he was doing last year?

[Jay Skeats]

Not really about diving.

[Trey Kirby]

Daniels, Maybe he'll be the guy. Get your picks in this.

[Jay Skeats]

If I had to pick. Yeah. I'd take Daniels. Amen. Thompson, maybe.

[Tas Melas]

Okay, sure.

[Jay Skeats]

Deflections. I'm going on.

[Tas Melas]

Well, that's what Dyson Daniels did last year. He was spanking everybody.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah. Yeah, man.

[Tas Melas]

What are these stats?

[Jay Skeats]

Do we have more stats coming?

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, I saw my coming out with new stats.

[Jay Skeats]

I saw my first dunk score graphic.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, yeah.

[Jay Skeats]

Johnny Furfy.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, that was nice.

[Jay Skeats]

107.

[Trey Kirby]

Anything over a hundred, you're living the life.

[Jay Skeats]

That was a big ass. That was good.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah. That guy could fly, man. All right, we got a little bit of news before we wrap this up. Unfortunate news for Kings fans. Rinse and repeat. Kings forward Keegan Murray sidelined for more than a month after injuring his left thumb in a preseason game. The team said Murray will be reevaluated in four to six weeks. Task. This is not a good start to Sacramento King season. They do not have a lot of power forwards or like forwards in general here to sort of slot in here. I can't wait to see what Doug Christie decides on. But this sucks, especially. We all have the over for Sacramento.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

What's the worst that could happen? Well, a guy got hurt. Hurt right away at the most irreplaceable position.

[Jay Skeats]

And maybe they're. I mean, I know Keelan Ellis is good, but Keegan Murray is probably their best defensive player in terms of like, you are putting him on wing, guys.

[Tas Melas]

Absolutely.

[Jay Skeats]

God size. He can shoot too. He's trying to get a contract. That's another part of this whole thing. His rookie extension. Bad timing for him. Bad time for the Kings anyway. What do you think?

[Tas Melas]

It's terrible that they don't have a big wing to replace him. Really? Are we going to see some Dario Sarch minutes out there? Are they going to go. I know, I know, I know. It's slow.

[Trey Kirby]

It's an option.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

Drew Eubanks, if they want to go huge because they don't have. They don't want to have height. But I Think it is Nick Clifford time.

[Jay Skeats]

Oh, you think so?

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. Now doesn't really have the height for, for that big of a spot. They're going to be a little undersized. Like three, four will be him and DeRozan if he's out there. But he's an older rookie, you know, five year college player. He's got the wingspan. I think he's just, he gets after it from what I've watched in any minute. So I think he would be the guy. He can stretch the floor a little bit. But it is terrible news around. Are we going to see a guy that we watched last year in G league basketball here in Atlanta and then with the Atlanta Hawks, Daquan plowed and get minutes. I mean they are, they're desperate. They're desperate for a lock in guy. And that's why I think neat Clifford, a 23 years old 5 year player is probably the guy to do it.

[Jay Skeats]

It's a possibility. Their four starters are Schroeder, Levine, DeRozan and Sabonis. And then the, the options here, Trey are like, yeah, do you size up, you go big or do you go try and just play super sort of fast and small and maybe that's, maybe that's even Malik Monk or Keon Ellis or maybe Clifford. What do you think Doug Christie and the Kings will do here?

[Trey Kirby]

I think they should start their other rookie, Maxine Reynaud. Yeah, he's like seven feet tall.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah, he got a chance.

[Trey Kirby]

I think he's been wearing the starters jersey.

[Jay Skeats]

That's right. That's right.

[Trey Kirby]

And the other guys haven't. What I think they will probably do is go with Keon Ellis, get a little defense in there, even if it is perimeter defense to make it tougher, supposedly for teams to score on Sabonis inside. But this is just a disaster for the Kings. Losing Keegan Murray is like the one spot they couldn't lose. He may be their best wing defender and he's just an okay wing defender. He hasn't even shot it all that well. Like you said, he's got his extension coming up. The deadline is October 20th. Who knows how this affects that? But not good and definitely not good for over 34 and a half wins. This should be a sign for the Kings it's time to blow it up. We should trade DeRozan. We should try and trade Sabonis. Good luck with Levine. I don't know if that could happen, but that's not really been the King's MO for the past couple of seasons. So I don't think that that's what they'll do.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. Yeah. Keegan was thrown in there as a rook, so that's why I think NI Clifford could just imitate that.

[Jay Skeats]

King Murray was amazing as a rookie.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeats]

Shut the lights. Didn't he set the record at that point?

[Trey Kirby]

41% from three and down, down, down, down, down ever since.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. It is all about how much he'll miss here because it's even four to six weeks, and it's. He'll be reevaluated in four to six weeks with the. With the UCL injury. So if it's short, that's all right. But if it is six weeks, you miss three games against okc, three games against Denver when you don't have a big defender and Sabonis, who isn't a rim defender at the five. Maybe they go. Ray. No, just to have a lot of height because Clifford is only 6 5. That would be Malik.

[Jay Skeats]

Monk is tiny. Kean Ellis is probably six four, six five. He's a dog. Yeah. Slight. Sarich. No, thank you.

[Tas Melas]

I'm sorry.

[Jay Skeats]

They wish they had Trey Lyles still on the roster. That's right. But he's in. I think he's in Barcelona or he's in Madrid. Madrid. Madrid. Thank you.

[Trey Kirby]

How about Ben Simmons? Give him a call. I think he would want to play in Sacramento.

[Jay Skeats]

Westbrook.

[Trey Kirby]

I mean, they still do want Westbrook, but unfortunately a guard as well.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Doug McDermott. He's on this team.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

First time with the Kings.

[Jay Skeats]

Wow.

[Trey Kirby]

Seems like he's been a king his whole life.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. Weird. Thought this would be his second time around.

[Jay Skeats]

I. I heard Deuce and Mo. Obviously, a great Kings podcast. They. They were mentioning the tough schedule for the Kings to start this season. You sort of alluded to it. They have nine games combined against the Thunder, the Nuggets, and the Timberwolves before American Thanksgiving. So, like, maybe the three. You know, no disrespect to the Rockets and other teams that could get in the mix, but those are three of the best teams in the league. Okc, Denver, and Minnesota. And they play them nine combined times before the end of November. That's nuts. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

I mean, that sucks, but you're probably picking those teams over the Kings, even if Murray's healthy.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah, absolutely. It's gonna be. It's gonna be the game. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Would be the problem.

[Jay Skeats]

Yeah. Not a great start here for Kings fans, but, hey, anyone want to change their over under pick?

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, it doesn't look good.

[Jay Skeats]

You can't. It's autographic that was a test.

[Trey Kirby]

It has an emoji by it.

[Jay Skeats]

What was the line? 34 and a half. 34 and a half. Okay. Don't worry, they can backdoor their way into it.

[Trey Kirby]

He'll be nice. He'll be healthy come March. That's the time. Very March.

[Jay Skeats]

That's right. Okay, we're going to call it there. Fun show again. One of my favorites. We do all season long making our NBA award predictions. Hit the like button. Subscribe five star ratings and reviews. Plan is for us to be back on Wednesday. We're going to do some NBA team tier ranking. Going to slot all the teams in here, slot them in, get into a little bit of debate of who's the best of the best and go all the way down the line. That'll be on Wednesday at 10am Eastern. Hope to see you then. Till then, Clipper Bros. You heard it here first. Have a great time.

[Trey Kirby]

Turn up. Love you guys.

[Jay Skeats]

Awesome.

[Tas Melas]

Thanks for joining us. And remember, Executive of the Year is an award that goes to one person. We didn't predict. I think they gotta scrap it. It's a team. It's a front office award. They gotta do multiple guys. It should just be Executives of the Year.

[Jay Skeats]

Okay. Who are you picking?

[Tas Melas]

I'm picking.

[Jay Skeats]

You're picking the Nuggets. Oh, I thought you were going Atlanta. Okay.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. Hey, Nancy, Satellite respect. Yeah, that. I think for him, he'd probably be a solo guy, but I think it's gonna go to the Nuggets. Ben Tanzer. I'm saying his right name, right? And Jonathan Wallace.

[Jay Skeats]

John Wallace. He used to play for the Raptors.

[Tas Melas]

He sure did.

[Jay Skeats]

He had his autograph, right?

[Tas Melas]

It was his autograph, right?

[Trey Kirby]

Thought it was Vince Carter.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, I was told it was Vince Carter. What a weird story that is.

[Jay Skeats]

Trey, who you taking for Executive of the Year?

[Trey Kirby]

Arturish Karnistropus.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Brought back Gideon. Future mvp Matas Bouzelis.

[Jay Skeats]

Brought them back. Breaks the day, people.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Now through November 4, shop the annual beauty event and save $5 when you spend $25 on select beauty products. Shop in store or online for items like Dove Body Wash, Native Body Wash, Cetaphil gentle skin cleanser, Dr. Squatch body wash, Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel, Dial Liquid Hand Soap and Olay Body wash. And save $5 when you spend $25 or more. Offer ends November 4th. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Jay Skeats]

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[Tas Melas]

Football is back.

[Jay Skeats]

That means it's tailgate time and this season the only meat I'm going to grill is Dietz and Watson. I'm loving the Black Angus Dietz dogs. They're flavor packed and you can tell they are made with the highest quality ingredients. Sundays just got a whole lot better. Visit deetsandwatson.com the right way to learn more about the deets.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Difference.