Nba

James Harden or LeBron James for MVP? Is Ben Simmons the runaway Rookie of the Year, or has Donovan Mitchell made a good enough case to take the award? Is anyone the frontrunner for Defensive Player of the Year? The NBA has reached the midway of the season, Kurt Helin and Dan Feldman of NBC Sports break down their end-of-season awards ballots to this point — knowing that even if Harden is the MVP right now his hamstring issue could hand the award to LeBron. The pair get into all the big awards, plus who would make the All-NBA team as of today (that gets wide open by the third team). As always, you can check out the podcast below, listen and subscribe via iTunes at ApplePodcasts.com/PBTonNBC, subscribe via the fantastic Stitcher app, check us out on Google play, or check out the NBC Sports Podcast homepage and archive at Art19. … [Read more...] about PBT Podcast: MVP, Rookie of Year, NBA Midseason Awards breakdown

New Orleans, who trailed by as many as 15 points, overturned a nine-point half-time deficit to celebrate their seventh successive victory midweek. As for the Spurs, San Antonio lost for the fifth time in their last six games as head coach Gregg Popovich was ejected. Popovich was tossed from the game less than a minute into the third quarter following two quick technical fouls called on him for arguing. The ejection sparked the Pelicans and Anthony Davis who dropped 26 points and added 15 rebounds to lead New Orleans to a victory. Davis finished the month averaging more than 35 points and 10 rebounds, joining Moses Malone as the only players in the last 40 years to accomplish that feat. IRVING SHINES AS CELTICS ROLL ON Kyrie Irving scored 34 points on 13-of-18 shooting in the Boston Celtics' 134-106 win over the Charlotte Hornets. Phoenix Suns rookie Josh Jackson scored a career-high 29 points to go with seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks as his team topped the … [Read more...] about NBA: Spurs’ Popovich ejected as Pelicans win seventh straight

James Harden or LeBron James for NBA MVP? Okay, not a lot of suspense there, how about… Donovan Mitchell or Ben Simmons for NBA Rookie of the Year? Out of a crowded field who should be the NBA Coach of the Year? The NBA end-of-season awards are always an interesting debate, and while the NBA will not officially name the winners until June 25 (at their awards show) Kurt Helin and Dan Feldman of NBC Sports give you their picks and debate all of them in this podcast. They agree in some areas but differ on Rookie of the Year, and there are difficult questions about who should be on the second and third team All-NBA, as well as second team Rookie of the Year. Kurt and Dan get into them in detail. As always, you can check out the podcast below, listen and subscribe via iTunes at ApplePodcasts.com/PBTonNBC, subscribe via the fantastic Stitcher app, check us out on Google play, or check out the NBC Sports Podcast homepage and archive at Art19. … [Read more...] about PBT Podcast: NBA Awards breakdown including Simmons or Mitchell?

The 2017 NBA draft has been touted as a great one. I’m not convinced. Sure, there are strengths relative to average years: No. 2, middle of the lottery, middle of the second round. But I don’t rate players projected 3-7ish as the inevitable future stars they’re being made out to be, and prospects worth getting truly excited about peter out before the lottery ends. Still, teams must draft based on who’s available. So, lets classify prospects within my tier system. As explained before: Draft for need or take the best player available? It’s the question as old as drafts themselves. Personally, I favor the middle-of-the-road approach – the tier system. I judge prospects on three attributes: Current ability Potential Likelihood of meeting that potential Obviously, assessing those attributes is not easy. It’s really hard. That’s why I don’t like taking the best prospect – based on all three criteria – available. It’s … [Read more...] about Tiered 2017 NBA draft board

As I outlined last year: Draft for need or take the best player available? It’s the question as old as drafts themselves.Personally, I favor the middle-of-the-road approach – the tier system. I judge prospects on three attributes: Current ability Potential Likelihood of meeting that potential Obviously, assessing those attributes is not easy. It’s really hard. That’s why I don’t like taking the best prospect – based on all three criteria – available. It’s just too difficult to split hairs between players with so many variables. But overly considering fit is problematic for the same reason. Rosters churn, and it’s foolish to pass on a clearly better prospect – in the cases that becomes clear – just because he doesn’t fit the current version of the team. So how does the tier system work? Divide players into tiers based on their value regardless of fit. Don’t worry about differentiating prospects with nearly … [Read more...] about Placing 2015 NBA draft prospects into tiers