2022-2023 NBA MVP race

If the entire NBA was available to an expansion team next year, I would guess Giannis would be the choice over each of these other two 100 out of 100 times.

It's interesting that one of Devine's main arguments against Giannis is that he played fewer minutes than Jokic or Embiid. But then he disregards the same criteria in a much more pronounced way in choosing Jackson over Lopez for DPOY. For context, Embiid played about 260 more minutes than Giannis this year. Lopez played 600 more minutes than Jackson.

Also, in what universe is Giannis not one of the top 9 DPOY candidates? He's probably the best help-side defender in NBA history. It's trending to where he won't even make the NBA all-defensive team. Jevon Carter should have gotten some consideration for that team as well, but he won't. The Bucks will be lucky if Holiday makes it and he's a top 10 defensive guard in NBA history still in his prime.

The Bucks are at the point where the only thing that matters is an NBA title, and the only thing that matters to Giannis is a Finals MVP (unless Holiday or Middleton somehow takes that from him).

I read somewhere that it's been something like 30 years (or more) since the team with the best record in the NBA didn't have at least of the following on the team: the MVP, DPOY, or coach of the year. The Bucks will break that string this year.

The Bucks are boring. Nobody caught drunk driving, or clubbin' with a piece in their waistband or accused of domestic violence or "dating" a Kardashian.

They simply win basketball games.

Now go out.....and win 16 more games to take home another chip.

JJ Redick spittin’ truth

Here’s my MVP vote. New Old Man and the Three things today- no paywall for this episode. It’s available to all. We talk thru all my end of season awards voting. pic.twitter.com/kFlQHD4Vkq

— JJ Redick (@jj_redick) April 10, 2023

The person that wrote that article must either hate the Bucks or not watch them play.  

It’s utterly ridiculous how people like him overlook the non-scoring aspects of basketball like steals and blocks and altered shots and rebounds and pure physicality and intimidation - all things the Bucks do exceptionally well.  

The other factor is in the regular season you can get away with just trying to outrun and outgun opponents, but that shit doesn’t work in the postseason if you don’t defend and rebound.   Sure, you can steal a game here or there by virtue of hot shooting, but over a long series or extended playoffs it’s not sustainable.

This Bucks team - top to bottom - is elite in those categories.  Holiday and Giannis are legitimate 1st team all NBA defenders.  Lopez is probably 2nd team, and honestly at his best so is Middleton and Carter.  Wes Matthews and Jae Crowder are also well above average defenders.  Pat C is an elite rebounder for his size.  

Ingles and Portis and Allen and Dragic aren’t good defensive players but they don’t need to be.

The Bucks could get beat earlier than the Eastern Conference Finals. It would be a colossal upset for them to lose to whoever is the 8th seed, but it's not out of the question. Cleveland is going to be a major challenge in round 2, but the Bucks will still be heavily favored.

If they make it that far, they will likely have to beat the Celtics to get to the NBA Finals. Allen and Ingles (and likely Lopez) all get played off the court in crunch time against the Celtics. Carter is too short against that lineup. Portis' length gives him an advantage to bother shots, even if he isn't an elite defensive player, so he's playable for some minutes, but probably won't close games. Connaughton will get some minutes too.

But if everyone is healthy, the closing lineup against the Celtics is going to be Giannis, Middleton, Holiday, Matthews, and Crowder. That's 5 elite defenders that can guard anyone and 4 guys with hundreds of games of playoff experience that have shot between 35 and 40% from three for their careers to put around Giannis. Tatum and Brown are not going to be winning games for the Celtics by isolating Allen, Lopez, Ingles, or Carter in crunch time. If they do make the shots to win it, it will be against a tough contest from one of these 5 guys.

I know we tend to look ahead, but Tatum and Brown didn’t have to play defense much against Milwaukee in the playoffs last year.

If Middleton is healthy, and with Crowder in the mix, you can’t ignore them on the perimeter.  It will force Boston to step out of the paint which then opens up the lane for guys like Giannis and Holiday to go to work.  

Speaking of which, Holiday is playing at another level and if he’s not expected to score 30+ a night (like last year) he’ll be a lot more effective on both ends of the court.  

Lori Nickel with a great article on Giannis and his amazing work in the mental health space

https://www.jsonline.com/story...support/70091667007/

" Giannis found the entire experience of counseling so enlightening that when the Antetokounmpo family talked about what they each envisioned for their foundation, he decided he would talk about mental health, too. "

@Tschmack posted:

I know we tend to look ahead, but Tatum and Brown didn’t have to play defense much against Milwaukee in the playoffs last year.

If Middleton is healthy, and with Crowder in the mix, you can’t ignore them on the perimeter.  It will force Boston to step out of the paint which then opens up the lane for guys like Giannis and Holiday to go to work.  

Speaking of which, Holiday is playing at another level and if he’s not expected to score 30+ a night (like last year) he’ll be a lot more effective on both ends of the court.  

You're right on Tatum/Brown and defensive effort.

In the end, it really depends on Middleton's health. If he's the 2021 playoff version of Middleton, the Bucks win in 5 games in the ECF. If he's they guy we've seen for most of the year (without the legs to consistently hit from three and a guy you can target on defense), I think you have to favor the Celtics. He has about a month to get to the point he needs to be.

Great points being made here. I would add that getting Connaughton back on his game is important. Don’t forget how well he played during the championship run.

Pat C seems to be the 2021-2022 version of Brook Lopez.  Hurt for a good chunk of the season and it lingered and clearly impacted his game.  You see how well Lopez is playing now; clearly his back wasn’t right last year.   Hopefully Planet Pat gets better because he’s playable in spots against most teams in the postseason and a key role guy.