Howard Beck

The value is in playing, and I'm sorry that Jokic got hurt.

Again, this was the quick and dirty version.

I had Cade third, Jalen Brown fourth, Wemby fifth.

Painful all the way down this.

And I just want to make clear,

MVP and All-NBA, the difference between these two for me has always been All-NBA is mostly about individual excellence, but there's some team success factored in.

MVP is very much about individual excellence backed by team success.

If the team success doesn't follow, then that hurts your case in my eyes.

If your team success is outstanding and you are the central reason for it, it boosts your case, right?

So Jalen Brown's in there right now in large part because...

He has put the Celtics in a place that none of us expected, and this isn't just about defying expectations.

The stats are legitimately great.

He's been legitimately great, and the Celtics are great.

And again, to me, the outline of MVP is a great player on a great team.

Not a great player on a meddling team, not a great player on a fringe contender, but seriously in the mix.

And if Wemby had played more games, he's way higher.

He's no worse than third, probably.

Yeah, you're right.

We should not fixate too much on the three, four or five.

It's the first two spots that matter most, and especially in a year like or the last several years where it's been really close races between two guys.