Wilbon: Pardon the interruption but I’m Mike Wilbon. The PBSL Trade Deadline has come and gone, which means we’re in the home stretch of the season. Some teams are surging, some are stalling. Tony, are you a surger or a staller?
Kornheiser: Pardon the interruption, I’m Tony Kornheiser. I’m more of a spitter.
Wilbon: Tony!
Kornheiser: What? My mouth gets moist. Today on PTI we’re going to talk about the best team in the league, the GM-less Knicks, we’re going to weigh in on the MVP debate, and we’re going to do the wide eyes emoji at Kevin Love’s option being declined. Plus five good minutes with Sixers forward Ben Simmons. But first let’s get to the headlines.
NO CAPTAIN, NO PROBLEM: KNICKS SMOOTH SAILING
Kornheiser: The New York Knicks are the best team in basketball. They also do not have a general manager, as Inner stepped down before the season. Being run by independent stewards, the nearly headless Knicks – any Harry Potter fans out there? – are destroying opponents by almost 15 points a game, and they have three All-Stars in Chet Dooley, Gary Harris, and Nikola Jokic. We’ve seen teams without a manager before, but we’ve never seen an unmanned team this good. But the playoffs are a different beast where direction is very important. So Wilbon, can a team without a GM win a title?
Wilbon: Absolutely. When you have the talent the Knicks have, you don’t need much planning. You can just push play. They have scorers at almost every position. They have depth. And they play defense. Inner deserves credit for putting this team in such a great position when he knew he was leaving to deal with gastrointestinal issues.
Kornheiser: Oh, GI, I get it. Look, Mike, the answer is an emphatic NO.
Wilbon: That wasn’t emphatic enough.
Kornheiser: NO WAY! Is that better? We’ve been here for a long time, and we know that the regular season is one thing, the playoffs are a completely different beast. The talent of the team won’t matter when going up against a team that can strategize. And remember how many good teams there are they have great GMs in the East! It’s impressive that these players can carry the team this far without leadership, but that won’t last forever.
Wilbon: It will last just long enough, let’s say June?
MVP, DOES THE P STAND FOR PISTONS OR PWIGGINS?
Wilbon: We need to fire our headline writer. The race for MVP is a two-man race if you look at the trend of awards. Anthony Davis has won every player of the month award in the eastern conference; Wiggins has won every award but this month’s. They combine for over half of the player of the week awards. They’re both putting up ridiculous numbers – Davis with 38 and 13 on 57% shooting, Wiggins with 33, 6, and 4 on 52% shooting. Davis has the edge on raw stats, but his Pistons are dangerously close to being out of the playoff race, while the 49-22 Timberwolves are on the door of the Northwest division and the two seed of the Western Conference. Who’s your MVP, Tony?
Kornheiser: It should be Wiggins. It won’t be Wiggins. And do you know why, Mike?
Wilbon: Not this again.
Kornheiser: THE VOTERS ARE ROBOTS! WHY DO WE LET ROBOTS MAKE DECISIONS ON THE MOST IMPORTANT AWARD OF THE YEAR?
Wilbon: The voters are the press, Tony. We all get a vote. You have a vote!
Kornheiser: You say that, but the way the “media” has voted has been transparent and shameful every year. Use your brain and you’ll see that all Davis has is counting stats. Wiggins has led his team through injuries and team restructuring, and he’s playing out of his mind. He’s put himself in the hall of Bosh and Webber as genuine Timberwolves superstars. But at the end of the day it won’t matter, because the robot sees 40 points and goes crazy.
Wilbon: I have to admit I suffer from voter’s fatigue too, Tony. But I think the race should be more than a two man race. Ben Simmons, the man we’ll talk to later on this program, is shooting SIXTY PERCENT FROM THE FLOOR! And averaging 25 and 10 while leading the Sixers to a 50 win season. Davis is the likely choice, but I agree there’s more to life than 38 points on amazing efficiency.
Kornheiser: Do we sound old right now? I think we sound old.
Wilbon: You always sound old.
WOAH OH IT’S MAGIC? WHO KNOWS
Kornheiser: The Orlando Magic are tied with the Atlanta Hawks for the lead in the Southeast division, each having 50 wins with 9 left to go. With the Hawks it’s expected – Wig Nosy could cough up ten hairballs and coach them to 50 wins. But the Magic are good, and it’s hard to figure out why. They don’t have an All-Star, though you could argue DeSean Hawkins was an egregious sub.
Wilbon: Can and will!
Kornheiser: They don’t have a top ten offense. Their defense is seventh. They’re good, but Wilbon – why are they this good?
Wilbon: Defense and the offensive glass, Tone. You say seventh as if that’s a bad thing – they’re top 5 in defensive efficiency! And they’re outrebounding opponents on the offensive end by 4.5 a game. You can thank Fareid and Towers for that. And yes, Tony, Hawkins is an All-Star, despite how many great guards are in the East. 25 points a game, and he’s shooting NINE threes a game on a 40 percent clip! He’s keeping that team focused, and I think they’ll finish higher than the Hawks.
Kornheiser: It’s a good story, a nice one, and it led to our best headline today, so you’re not fired anymore Bernie. But I don’t trust the flashes in the pan. I trust the fires. And the Hawks have been burning for years. Give me the team that had three All Stars. Give me the team that has Wig Nosy.
Wilbon: That’s not even the question you asked.
Kornheiser: Time to distract Wilbon with a quick commercial break. We’ll be back in a minute to spend five good minutes with Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers.
