00:00John, I wanted to talk about the early NBA MVP race.
00:04And the reason I want to talk about that is because I feel like maybe I'm mistaken.
00:09This is the earliest we've had talks about an NBA MVP in recent years.
00:14Usually we don't start this conversation until like January or February.
00:19It's like, oh, this guy's leading the league in this or he's carrying this team to this record or whatever.
00:27And it's between Luka and Wemby.
00:30And I guess you could throw Shea in there because Shea has the Oklahoma City Thunder at eight and two,
00:34even though they've missed everybody.
00:36But you have smoke tonight.
00:38Yeah, right.
00:39So you have this group of this mix of players that are getting real MVP hype in early November.
00:47Again, we are not even a month into the season yet.
00:50And we're hearing, well, this guy's leading an MVP.
00:53First of all, I want to get your thoughts on that.
00:55Like, we are way too early for MVP talk, are we not?
00:59Am I crazy to think that?
01:02I think it's laughable in a sense.
01:05But hear me out on this.
01:08You can win the MVP in the first month because if you get out ahead of everybody, you can now
01:14establish yourself.
01:15If you don't get injured, you miss a game here and there, but you don't get injured for a couple
01:18of weeks or a month or so, nothing like that.
01:21You can then say, or people who are in your corner can say, he's been good from beginning to end
01:25because no one really watches the middle.
01:28They watch the beginning and they watch a little bit halfway past the midway and the end for MVP.
01:35There's a chunk in the middle and nobody's really paying attention to.
01:38And so I think if you are Luka, it's important that you start off on fire.
01:42He has.
01:43If you're Wimby, I think it's important that you start standing closer to the basket when you're trying to score.
01:48He has.
01:49And so Shea is going to do what Shea is going to do.
01:52With all these injuries that surround that organization right now, if he can keep that team anywhere near the top
01:58with his 30-point average, he's going to be the MVP.
02:02I like what Luka's done.
02:03I think Wimby showing people last year, we were pissed off about what happened.
02:09I'm going to show you that that will not happen again.
02:12He's on a revenge season.
02:13But I'm telling you, if Shea can get this team any one or two with a 30-point average, there
02:20really won't be anything you can say against them.
02:24Because, Luka, we know you can score 35.
02:26And, Wimby, we know you can get 40 points in eight blocks and 15 rebounds when you want to stand
02:30next to the basket.
02:33But, John, there's this thing that people in the NBA or voters in the NBA love to do, which is
02:38voters fatigue, right?
02:41And Shea is a two-time defending MVP.
02:43And people are saying, oh, well, it's the same as always.
02:45Like, he's doing the same thing he always does.
02:47I think it's different in this context.
02:49Much, much different in this context.
02:51People are saying, well, Luka and Wimby, they're tearing up the league.
02:55I understand that.
02:56I am not discrediting what those two guys have done.
02:59But I think we've kind of led, we've kind of warped this MVP.
03:06What is MVP?
03:07Most valuable player.
03:09And what does that mean?
03:10Well, most valuable player to what?
03:11To your team.
03:12Like, if you're off the team, the team's going to be significantly worse.
03:16Or when you're on the floor, they are that much better.
03:20If you take Shea off OKC, I mean, they're not even in the top eight.
03:25They're not even in the top 10, in my opinion.
03:27You saw Luka Doncic came off the floor for the Lakers.
03:31And Austin Reeves put up 43.
03:32And they beat the Pistons on the road.
03:34Like, Wimby, they have Castle.
03:36They have Fox.
03:37They have Harper.
03:38They have this unbelievable trio of guards that can still put up points.
03:43Obviously, I'm not taking, like I said, I'm not taking away anything.
03:46But aren't we kind of getting away, not just in the NBA, but across sports about MVP?
03:52It's kind of just best player.
03:55It should be the BP or whatever.
03:58You know, it's not really most valuable anymore.
04:01Here's the thing about voter fatigue.
04:03I don't buy into voter fatigue.
04:04Voter fatigue costs Russell Westbrook back-to-back MVPs.
04:07Voter fatigue costs Joker back-to-back-to-back MVPs.
04:14That's what I mean.
04:15So we have seen, in the last decade, we've seen guys have seasons that no one's ever had before
04:23and not win the MVP.
04:25Russell Westbrook averaged a triple-double at back-to-back seasons.
04:30Got an MVP for the first one.
04:32Didn't get one for the second one.
04:33Joker then went on and did basically the same thing three years in a row.
04:37And voter fatigue is what got him the third time?
04:40I understand that voter fatigue is a real thing.
04:45Because LeBron doesn't have eight MVPs.
04:47Michael Jordan don't have ten MVPs.
04:49Like, I get that it's a real thing.
04:51But it really does a disservice to the game of the best player dominating.
04:56Can someone have a better season than him?
04:58Of course they can.
04:59Derrick Rose is one of my favorite players of all time to watch.
05:02That season he won the MVP was historic.
05:05But LeBron had a better year.
05:07And so a lot of times the storyline plays into it.
05:11And I think that's what voters hide behind.
05:13They don't say it's voter fatigue, but they hide behind, this is a better story for the MVP.
05:19This is a better narrative.
05:21We can sell this across the market if Derrick Rose becomes the youngest MVP in NBA history.
05:27Yes, LeBron is great.
05:28Yes, LeBron.
05:28But we've seen LeBron, quote-unquote, do this before.
05:31One of those things.
05:32Yeah, Jokic is on his third, you know, MVP run.
05:35But we've seen that.
05:36You know, better story.
05:38Little OKC.
05:39So, you know, I'm not a fan of it.
05:41I think it waters down the game and it really hurts the conversation.
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