No Dunks
The Drop | Playoff Picture Remains Murky, Embiid's Appendicitis & Final NBA Awards Watch
10 Apr 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What are the implications of Joel Embiid's appendicitis surgery?
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Chapter 2: How does Joel Embiid's injury affect the 76ers' playoff chances?
I don't. I see it in the stores and I say, why don't we have that?
Yeah. It's pretty fun. Yeah, it's a good one. I played it recently. Maybe Daryl and Lisa's kids had it up in Canada when I was there. Yeah, I think so. I will say, like we talked about, like, is he going to come back? Won't he? You know, whatever. Who knows? Again, is it two to three weeks? Probably. But I want to give credit to Nora, who I told her yesterday.
I was like, oh, my God, you're not going to believe this. Joel Embiid news. Appendicitis. Had surgery. She said, well, he'd come back pretty quick. I'm like, what are you talking about? She's like, well, a couple of F1 drivers did. I was like, what? I guess Carlos Sainz in 2024 and Alex Albon a couple of years prior both had this sort of emergency, which it usually is.
You're like in that pain and like you go get the surgery and they returned to racing. Now, this is racing. I get it. You're in a car. You're not playing NBA basketball. That's a lot of like. you know, physical toll on your body in a race car. It really is. They came back pretty quickly. I think it was like they missed a race and came back.
Carlos Sainz, I think, won after the surgery and came back. Anyway, I was like, I couldn't believe it. I was like, hold on. I'm like fact checking my wife. Like, yeah, right. Give me a break. Oh, damn. She's right. So different race car and playing NBA basketball. But I guess I'm getting to like, could it be two weeks? Maybe. Maybe.
This is surgery through the abdomen. Yeah. And through your core. Yeah. You don't need your core as much for driving it. Wow. As much. I mean, you're in there and yeah, there is some. A lot of force. There is force. Yeah. Yeah. A little different.
But you can take a shot. Yeah. Obviously a big guy like Embiid.
Uh-huh, yeah. That's going to be, take a toll. I thought you meant a shot as in take a little booster shot to fight through it. Hey, are you saying Carlos Sainz cheated?
No, no, no. To win the Saudi Arabian GP?
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Chapter 3: What happened in the Knicks vs. Celtics game?
And I would love to see what the Spurs are without Wemby for, you know, a full couple months or whatever. He's still played a ton and he's still very deserving as an MVP. Oh, my God. But he's going to win.
The fact that he is 22 years old and even in this conversation is nuts in Wemby. Yeah. Like we're like he's runner-upper top three in the league is what we're saying. Yeah. And he's proven that.
Oh, yeah. I was not ready. I was not ready preseason. No, I wasn't either. I know Trey threw him at the MVP table immediately. We're talking about year three here. I just go based on what I've seen, and I was totally... I'm a little biased. I hang on to the past a little too much.
The first time we saw him out in Summer League, and he couldn't fit through that doorway, and I thought he was going to bang his head, and he was terrible in game one. I just... All that to say, I knew he was obviously getting better, but I didn't think he was this.
I don't know if anybody thought he was this, especially coming off last year when he played basically half the season in 46 games last year. So to see him do this and be consistent, not as consistent as Mr. Consistency, but still very, very, very, very, very good. So looking forward to him winning plenty.
Well, he's going to win Defensive Player of the Year if he gets the games played under his belt. Let's go to that one. He's minus 4,000. Now, this should be minus 400,000, but he still has to play, what, one more game, right, to qualify. Oh, boy. So I think he's going to.
I think they're going to roll him out there for 20-plus minutes in one of these final games for him to get this because I think he wants it, and I think that's enough for the Spurs organization to play him.
He just has to come play one of these last two games and play 20 minutes. As simple as that. So, yes, he'll do that. Gosh, I was going through the exceptions for this award. You're supposed to be able to get to 65, but there are exceptions. Oh, man. It'll do your head in. Not fun. You can play in one exception.
You can play 15 to 19-minute games and have those granted if you have up to two qualified games. So you can play 63 regular games and have those granted.
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Chapter 4: What are the latest updates on the NBA playoff picture?
And he's doing it on an excellent 61% true shooting percentage. He's also the second best player on this Hawks team, right? I mean, it's Jalen Johnson, but I think it's not after him. But were you shocked by it looking like he's going to win this thing, sort of in a runaway?
Yeah, for sure. I know a lot of these odds are just sort of dependent on timing. Recency bias is a part of it. Of course. Because Nikhil Alexander-Walker has been kicking ass, and this was... Danny Avdia's award for, I don't know, the first half of the season?
Yeah, I think there was a stretch where maybe Jalen Johnson had it. Avdia had it. Jalen Dern, I think, had it. But you're right. This last, I don't know, call it four or five weeks here, it's Nas to lose.
Yeah. But it isn't just because of recency bias. It is because of those stats that you threw out there. I don't know if Ansi Saleh, who runs the Hawks front office, saw this coming from Nikhil Alexander-Walker when he signed him to a ridiculously good deal. Four years, $62 million. So he's making... That is a steal now. $15.5 per year. Would you expect $22 on really good percentages from...
Almost everywhere.
He's on fire from three. Takes a lot. He's still a good defender.
Yeah.
No, this is shocking. So even people that were high on Nikhil Alexander Walker, especially as we saw in the, in the post season, which I thought he showed something right. Yeah. Which they obviously saw. And then the, the wolves got squeezed from, you know, financially. So it's like he had to go, but I don't think anybody had him scoring 21, 22 at night.
No, to go, to go from nine to 21. Yeah. I was looking at Chandler Johnson's number. So I hesitated to say percentages are ridiculously good. Cause I saw a three point percentage, but yeah, When you watch the games, the guy's three-point percentage is ridiculously hot. He's so good at coming off catch and shoots. He's not just, hey, I'm bringing the ball up and I'm firing.
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Chapter 5: What makes Tim Hardaway's season stand out?
Listen, I think this is Tim Hardaway's best season of his career. I think he's been awesome. So... I don't think he's been awesome. He has been awesome. And the numbers prove it. And we all say, oh, Jokic goes to the bench.
Chapter 6: Why is Jaime Jaquez a strong contender for the six-man award?
They stink. Well, guys like Tim Hardaway has helped that. But we're talking about the six-man and the six-man award. I wouldn't give it to Kelton Johnson. I wouldn't. I would give it to Jaime Jaquez. I think because he's... I know he's young and he's only near three, but we all wondered, is he going to be able to start and be a three point shooter?
Well, he's gone to the bench and he's totally changed his role and what he is. He just pushes that ball for Spolstra. He just creates fast break opportunities and, And that's part of the story. I think there's a better story with Jaime Jaquez. He's just gotten the best out of what he can do. Talking about point jumps, Jaquez has a good one from 8.6 last year to 15.1 this year.
I think that's far sexier a story. Sorry, I'm using the word sexy again. It's a better improvement. It's a better storyline than Keldon Johnson, who's been fine. But why is Kelton Johnson the clear favorite? I don't really get it because the Spurs are good. It doesn't usually have anything to do with being good.
Yeah, I've seen some people wonder, is Kelton Johnson even the best player on the Spurs roster coming off the bench? Dylan Harper. Dylan Harper's... I mean, damn good.
Chapter 7: What are the key factors in determining Coach of the Year?
Kelton's played a role, and I think even the leadership value he brings to that team, I get that. On a per-game basis, Jaquez's case is pretty strong, though. 15.1 points per game, leads all reserves by a decent margin. 4.6 assists, that's second. 5.1 boards, that's sixth. And Basketball Poetry wrote, the Heat rely on Jaquez more than any other team relies upon their top reserve.
That's a good way to put it.
And he plays more minutes per game than many starters. So I don't love that the Heat have completely just fallen apart here at the end. I feel like this is maybe a no-brainer if they're โ flirting with a six seed or something like that, but they've just let, like let go of the rope here and they can't stop anyone. So it makes it a little less like, I don't know, sexy.
And maybe that's why Keldon is the favorite winning 60 plus games and him playing almost like a team award. Like, all right, Keldon, you're the representative of a very good Spurs bench. Maybe. I mean, I'm not gonna be upset if he wins it.
Chapter 8: How do the Worst of the Week nominees reflect current NBA drama?
And I think he, I don't know, actually this one, I think is gonna be close between these two in the votes.
he could be leading the odds just because there are more bets on him specifically because he is, it is kind of a team award as well. He represents their bench and he, he is that emotional leader of that second unit. He's been there so long with the San Antonio Spurs so long. So he, yeah, I think there's, there is a storyline there too. I, I,
I reduce it to say it's not as good a storyline as Jaime Hawkins, but it's a different type of story than Jaime Hawkins, who has just grown immediately here in year three. While Calvin Johnson, yeah, there's a little more to that and what he is. I can't believe how long he's been there. It just doesn't feel like he's been there for seven seasons.
Because he has gone through some, his numbers technically have dropped, you know, because he used to be a starter if you look at it that way. But he's been great.
You got a story. I got a story. We all got a story.
I agree with you. Yeah, we all do.
Final award here, Coach of the Year. Bickerstaff is the favorite. Minus 260. Joe Mazzulla. He doesn't want this award. Don't give it to him. Plus 220. And then Mitch Johnson of the Spurs, Charles Lee of the Hornets, and Quinn Snyder of the Hawks round out the list there. Mitch Johnson may be within striking distance, but... Looking like a Bickerstaff or Missoula for Coach of the Year.
An award where expectations seem to matter, right? That's a big part of the Missoula factor. It's like, ooh, a lot of people thought gap year. They're going to be flirting with the play-in and all that. Instead, they're the number two seed in the East. But the Pistons ran away with the East and didn't miss a beat when Cade was gone.
And I think that, to me, cemented Bickerstaff being deserving of this award.
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