Wembanyama a deserving unanimous DPOY winner for 2026!

#Spurs #NBASky

I love Jalen Duren but I’m not sure how he got a 3rd place DPOY vote.

#Pistons #NBASky

Thinking about how awesome it’s been to see Aaron Gordon’s self-actualization as a basketball player over the last few years. He’s become such a well-rounded, diverse player, can do a little bit of everything. Shooting has steadily improved, and his basketball IQ is a joy to watch.

#Nuggets #NBASky

Yup, Magic set the tone. We’ll see if Detroit responds early in game two!

For #Pistons, quiet night from supporting cast. Duren didn't do much, didn't get much from the bench. Felt like Cunningham had a slow start, but he really picked it up as the game went on. Got the jumper going, and started forcing his way to rim. Big 39 point performance from him

#NBASky

Suggs was an absolute dawg, had a crazy hot start all over the floor and made a lot of disruptive plays on D all night.

Carter Jr. was steady and solid, nice short-roll decisions. Franz started to show some juice in Q4, he's still getting his wiggle back post-ankle injury.

#Magic

#Magic with the G1 upset over #Pistons. Balanced effort from Orlando's starting 5. Credit where credit's due, I didn't like Banchero's game at all vs Charlotte in the play-in, but he was much better tonight. More decisive on offense. Jumper was falling for him.

#NBASky

On the MIN end, thought Gobert had a solid showing. Particularly screening, getting guys loose.

Couldn't believe the bone-headed push foul by McDaniels on Jokic. After McD had just scored, too! Same with the Randle wrestle foul on AG, seemed unnecessary.

In for a great series!

#NBASky

#Timberwolves @ #Nuggets G1 delivered as expected, awesome crowd in DEN, tight game.

DEN weathered the early storm, took over, and held on. Murray excellent getting to line all night. Cam Johnson quietly had a stellar defensive night positionally. AG brought the goods, timely Mr. Nug.

For the 2025-2026 sixth man of the year, I'd go

1. Keldon Johnson, SAS
2. Jaime Jaquez Jr., MIA
3. Naz Reid, MIN
4. Ayo Dosunmu, MIN
5. Dylan Harper, SAS
6. Tim Hardaway Jr., DEN
7. Reed Sheppard, HOU
8. Ajay Mitchell, OKC

#NBASky

My most improved player ballot for 2025-2026 would be

1.1 Nickeil Alexander-Walker, ATL
1.2 Jalen Duren, DET
1.3 Ryan Rollins, MIL
2.1 Collin Gillespie, PHX
2.2 Neemias Queta, BOS

#NBASky

BTW my first round picks are as such:

OKC over PHX
HOU over LAL
DEN over MIN
SAS over POR

DET over ORL
CLE over TOR
NYK over ATL
BOS over PHI

#NBASky #NBAPlayoffs

Also hard to keep our decision-making framework completely rigid, too, try our best as we may. Always a case-by-case analysis, which is part of the fun to me!

Absolutely, super subjective, and ultimately you can argue a lot of these decisions one way or the other and I wouldn't complain. That's why I like using tiers for these rankings. Some calls are by razor-thin margins, like the Flagg vs Knueppel situation you mentioned. No wrong answer to me haha

I get what you’re saying! These exercises are such a balance, triangulating things like team success, games/mins played, and production.

Kawhi was a monster any way you look at the numbers, and for me, eye test backed that up. On-off impact was massive, too. He’s the reason LAC even make play-in

Was tough for me to leave of Hugo Gonzalez and Carter Bryant. Ultimately, they just played too much less than Fears and Queen. Same tier for me, though.

#NBASky

Rookie of the year/all-rookie teams for 2026!

#NBASky

Daniels, Mobley, Adebayo, McDaniels were next up on the HM list for me.

#NBASky

Defensive player of the year/all-defensive teams for me this year.

#NBASky

If Anthony Edwards had qualified, I'd put him in tier 3 between Brunson and Murray. Devin Booker (didn't quite qualify) and Scottie Barnes were just outside looking in for me.

#NBASky

My MVP/All-NBA rankings for 2026!

#NBASky

So Cunningham and Doncic are award eligible, Edwards is not. Haven’t heard one way or the other on Booker, did he appeal?

#Suns #NBASky

GOOD!

Did y’all see Paolo Banchero absolutely beam a lady in the head with an awful pass?

#Magic #NBASky

ALRIGHT,

regular season’s over, time to hit the spreadsheets and lock in my award picks for the year. Always enjoy doing these thought exercises.

#NBASky

No. The answer was no.

#NBASky

Are there any actually good games happening tonight? Where both teams are playing most of their rotation?

#NBASky

You know what really sucks? when you're watching a game (MIN @ HOU) and a stupid drone keeps flying over the court over and over. I keep thinking something fell on the court but nope, just a dumb little drone flying around. Very distracting. Not great for the viewer's experience. #NBASky

Looking forward to watching how Kawhi Leonard handles the #OKC defence tonight

#Clippers #NBASky

Every time I watch Atlanta play, Nickeil Alexander-Walker simply hits every shot he takes

#Hawks #NBASky