Rob Mahoney

So usually my one through five is basically my own BA first team.

Uh,

They're both measures of value.

They're both assessing the top players in the sport.

And among those players, I don't think there has been anything more valuable this season than the consistency that Shea Gilgis-Alexander has brought to the Thunder with his scoring, with his all-around play.

We can dig into it, but that's kind of where I start ballot-wise.

Which is unbelievable.

I think not only because Shea has been that guy every step of the way for the Thunder through a dominant regular season for the team overall, but he's done it with a lot of guys in and out of the lineup, right?

And I think Jokic can make this argument too in his way, right?

Who has been available for the Nuggets at various times, what he's had to do as a result.

But I think the way Shea has done it, the consistency he brings, you've never had a moment this season where it felt like the Thunder were really faltering.

You know, like occasionally they will have a bad shooting night.

God forbid they lose like two games in a week.

And that's about as bad as it gets.

Versus the Nuggets have had some real lows.

And that's not all on Jokic.

But I'm saying in terms of the leader of the team, an MVP level player, being able to keep...

The entire roster, the entire group, so steady all the time because of what you bring to the table specifically, I just think is tremendously important.

And a lot of that comes from, Shea is a really good defender in his own right, having a great defensive season, but who he is allows them to load the roster and load lineups with defense first players who don't have to handle the ball.

It allows them to put multiple bigs on the floor.