My heart says I now have to hate everything about him, but I can’t.
It really has my hands tied, which disgusts me on many levels.
For 6MOY, that’s pretty self-explanatory
For Clutch Player Of The Year, same thing.
This year, Cade Cunningham is who many consider the MIP.
He absolutely has “improved”.
But…..he’s a #1 pick on a max deal.
Is thatreallywhat we should be using the MIP Award for?
Just because he technically wasn’t an All Star last season, he was still putting up 22/4/7.
The year before that, it was 19/6/6.
Where things get tricky is if you look at the recent winners.
Cade has always been The Guy for the Pistons.
Maxey was in a new role and thrived.
He also wasn’t a top 5 pick.
In fact, he wasn’t even a Lottery pick (21st).
To me, that was closer to the spirit of what this award should be about.
That guy should be getting better and better right?
Now, he was The Guy.
Probably the most egregious MIP winner was Ja Morant winning it in 2021-22.
It brings us back to what this award should be about.
You know, their normal projected progression?
Put it in context of this season.
High lottery picks becoming All Stars and All NBA players is whatshouldhappen.
This isn’t even a shot at Cade, he’s awesome!
The thing is, he’s always been awesome.
It’s more of a Ja Morant 2.0 situation.
So, as much as it pains me to say it, JJ Redick….right again.
