Creek hitting threes, Cooks hitting the iron from three, for those talking about mvp.

SEM right in this till benches come on, kings by three @3/4 time

How does Mayberry get this game. Kings by five.

Hoping either

Sydney by lots (to reduce SEM percentage)

Or, preferably....

SEM wins. Along with Cairns upcoming wins. To give Sydney something to play for against Perth

Sydney by a few points would be a terrible result for United

Creek gone past Cooks off the dribble to easy. Good game.

DJ and Noi knocking down some big threes to end quarter.

@Dunkman. Cooks doesn't have a 3 point shot. Great in the NBL. Not playing NBA

103-99 Kings. 2.20 left. Down to the wire

SEM in the bonus. Down 1. Shooting & missing 3's. Just dumb play

SEM blow another one down the stretch. You get what you get when you make stupid plays down the stretch. Good game. Unbelievably dumb last 2 minutes from SEM.

All kings bench in plus, all SEM bench in minus. In the end kings held their nerve. Cooks with triple double got beaten by Creek, Cooks just got better team.

Very good game, kings certainly favourites to win it all again, if SEM didn't have so many injuries mid season might have pushed them. Again kings bench just so strong.

Fun game. As soon as Cooks fouled out I figured we were done for but we did barely enough and Jordy had some clutch moments. To be honest I'm not sure why SEM don't force feed Williams more, we just could not deal with him and I think that's true for just about every team outside of NZ. When healthy the trio of imports for SEM is one of the best in the league outside of maybe NZ, just a shame for the Phoenix that they haven't been able to all stay on the court long enough to gel.

This is probably the best constructed SEM roster they've had since joining the league as far as starting 5 goes, although the lack of bench depth is glaring, especially with Broekhoff out and Adnam not doing nearly enough offensively to make up for the other end of the court (Walton Jr treated him like he was a DP every time they were matched up). The talent level in the NBL has spiked the past few seasons and it feels like the SEM bench hasn't kept up. Foxwell has a future as a bench contributor but its slim pickings outside of him. Te Rangi shot the ball well, but it feels like a mirage with him and you are probably going to get that type of night 2-3 times a season at most.

If I were Tommy Greer I'd be trying to bring back as many of the imports as they can, especially Williams, and then follow the Cairns route of looking to snag a couple of young Aussie college grads on multi-year deals (I say this with no idea what the crop of Aussies is like over in the States however).

Refs only made this game close by sending Creek to the Line 18 times compared to Cooks' 3.
Cooks gets fouled out with 3 absolutely bogus calls.
Cooks is clearly the better player and will be MVP.

Cooks is a very good interior player, that is no doubt, Creek went round him at least two, three times when he was exposed defensively at the three point line. Again Cooks is in the running for the mvp, but if every coach had a first choice to add to their team, Cotton wins this in a land slide. All the media are pumping Cooks tyres up and as Gazey says surely the mvp should be able to shoot the three ball and have a decent free throw. The stats show that it's Cotton followed by Creek.
Each to their own opinion though.

Cooks' impact on the game is enormous. All over the court. It's no surprise he's the only Sydney player when he's benched they've been outscored. The next best is +80 when they're on the bench!

If there's a comparison it's peak Cedric Jackson in just how much he can dominate the game without making jumpshots. They read the game better than almost everyone else at both ends.

That said, I think Creek and Cotton are every bit as worthy of MVP.

Team record should eliminate Creek from the equation IMO - it's not his fault that the Phoenix are sitting where they are, but if he was truly the most valuable player in the league the Phoenix would be a postseason lock. As it is, without Creek how many games worse are they really? I think the imports they have would pick up a lot of the slack.

Although I think Cooks deserves it for his overall play, I wouldn't be upset if Cotton got it - take him off Perth and they are bottom of the competition unless you are replacing him with a Jaylen Adams type import. They are squeezing absolutely everything they can out of him and although I don't think it's sustainable it's also been pretty remarkable to watch.

Even though I was probably the only one on here last season advocating Cooks as the Kings actual best player and league MVP not Adams I think Cotton deserves it this season. He's arguably having his best season yet averaging a career-high 23.9 ppg.

Cooks has dropped off a bit too much in rebounding (10 to 8), blocks (2 to 0.6) and FT% (64% to 55%) on a slightly inferior Kings team this season. I just don't think an argument for MVP can be made for him this season. Cotton or Creek and IMO Cotton deserves it.

Cotton - 23.9p @ 42% (38% 3p), 91% FT, 4.8a, 4.2r, 1.7s

Creek - 23.4p @ 50% (32.5% 3p), 77% FT, 7.1r, 2.9a

Cooks - 16.3p @ 60%, 55% FT, 8.0r, 4.4a, 0.6b

Team record is a bit overstated. It's not Cotton's fault Perth put together a roster that struggles to defend and rebound. It's not Creek's fault his team has had a really bad year for injuries to key players.

It's going hard to be hard to top Cooks in the post-season vote format though, clearly the most important player on the best team.

Stats above tell you everything you need to know.
Cotton,
Creek,
Cooks.
I hear you when you say that kings struggle when he's not on the floor, mainly because most plays and defence is worked around him. Again I respect all opinions.

Normalise the numbers per minutes played and you get a completely different story. Certainly a player playing almost 40 minutes will have superior stats than someone playing far less. The fact is Cooks made everyone around him better, Cotton did the same 2 years ago with Mooney, now as much as Cotton and Creek tried it seemed like their teams didn't respond - no real urgency or occasionally. The voting will be close so whoever gets it, well done.

It's not a stats per minute award otherwise we might be giving the MVP award to Kai Sotto, it's flatout a performance and production award. Cooks' numbers aren't there, you could make the argument the Kings don't need him as much to win so play him less but that means his production isn't there so...16 & 8 shooting in the 50's from the stripe is not league MVP numbers in this day and age.

Looking at per game stats and thinking that tells the story is very low-level analysis. Cooks' impact on the game is enormous at both ends of the floor.

The Kings are +80 or better with every other player on the bench, but they are -7 with Cooks on the bench. He is the biggest reason they've finished top and a nightmare for opposition teams to deal with. I think it will be a close race with Cotton and Creek.

It shouldn't be but some people do get sucked into the old 'best player on the best team' thing which is the main reason Cooks is being discussed. Cotton should win it but I wouldn't be surprised if Creek snags it.

If the Kings didn't have Cooks, they'd struggle to make the top 6 IMO, especially with the import choices. Him being the best player on the best team *should* be a factor.

One player doesn't make a team, no matter how good they are. To say they would not make top six is just guess work. If Cooks played elsewhere the coach would change the style play and with the quality players they have still would be very successful.

May the best player win::)))))))

Zodiac - you just showed that you are clueless when it comes to analytics and performance. There are many ways to express it - that's why defensive and offensive ratings are expressed per 100 possessions for example - how many times there are 100 possessions in a game, or performance per 48 minutes and so on.

Just for you, here's Cooks' performance normalised to fit the time of Cotton and Creek, who played 35 min per game so far, Cooks played 26 minutes.

21.9 ppg 10.7 rpg 5.9 apg

If you think Cooks could get anywhere near averaging those numbers you're even thicker than I thought you were. He doesn't have anywhere near the tank of Cotton or Creek. Cooks has dropped off a fair bit defensively this season. Rebounds down from 10.0 to 8.0, blocks down from 2.0 to 0.6 with steals about even 0.48 up to 0.56. His FT% is right down from 64% to 55% too.

Cooks was outstanding defensively last season and IMO was the true league MVP but this season if not for the 'best player on the best team' thing he shouldn't even be in the discussion. You and Anon can cling to secondary stats like +/- all you like I'll go with the big drop in his primary defensive stats thanks.

For those who like to try and console themselves with +/- stats when the primary data isn't to their liking just remember how much ridicule those posters used to get for their regular 'Delly is in beast mode' threads banging on about him having a +22 game when he only had 6 pts & 4 ast and happened to spend most of his time on court with LeBron.

Exactly, Cooks nowhere near fit enough to play plus 25/30 minute games back to back. Anyway there is stats and stats but even the greatest, Gaze didn't hav Cooks in top two when Copeland was talking him up. He said while Cooks was great player, he believes his free throws and outside shooting kept him behind the other two.

Cooks not fit enough, that's brilliant!

As for on-off stats, over a full season when there is a big difference between a player and their teammates it tells the story. There is nothing more valuable than the impact you have on your team's performance.

Fantasy league value is understandably done on traditional stats, but the players and coaches who vote on it have an understanding of the value players like Cedric Jackson and Xavier Cooks have at both ends.

Zodiac - the game is played on both sides of the court. Cotton's value is undeniable offensively - the Cats are offensively ranked #1 mainly due to Cotton but defensively dead last by a large margin, basically with or without Cotton it would not matter. You can cite Gaze as much as you want, it is not all about offensive numbers, it is about the overall value. For this reason, I have it between Creek and Cooks.

What I believe is irrelevant as you and especially Dunkman kept insisting on some stats that are skewed due to difference in playing time. I just gave a different perspective if Cooks played 35 minutes how his stats would look like (assuming the same performance which is highly unlikely). Whether he has that motor or not is again irrelevant as he didn't have to play these minutes. Due to mainly Cooks, the Kings are ranked second in both categories. SEM is offensively ranked 3rd and defensively 6th.

And probably you should listen to Kane's podcast in which he talks the stats and why Cooks followed by Creek is the front runner to win this award. But it would not surprise me if Cotton gets it since voting for DPOY just made no sense.

Who does the voting ? Is it coach and captain?, who else ?

As I've said previously, each to their own, you can quote stats, individual, team, etc, they can all have flaws in it. By my eyes Cotton is the best player in the league even if his team is defensively weak. Sydney has a bench that could start for Illawarra, that certainly helps to make team good defensively. Have a look at Creeks bench, Adnam, Terangi, Smith Milner, no defensive power house there.

Who does the voting ? Is it coach and captain?, who else ?

As I've said previously, each to their own, you can quote stats, individual, team, etc, they can all have flaws in it. By my eyes Cotton is the best player in the league even if his team is defensively weak. Sydney has a bench that could start for Illawarra, that certainly helps to make team good defensively. Have a look at Creeks bench, Adnam, Terangi, Smith Milner, no defensive power house there.

Sorry about double post.
Don't get me wrong either, I think Cooks an excellent player, I just don’t think he’s the mvp ahead of Cotton or Creek.

No probs, everyone's entitled to an opinion, mine is based on the stats that link the player's performance with the team's performance. And the award is called Most Valuable Player, not the best player. As I said, Cotton is the best offensive player by far so we agree on that, but we can disagree on his overall value.

And the voting is done by the coaches and the captains only on a short list provided by the media panel.

OK, thanks. That's what’s good, we are entitled to our opinions. In some aspects it would be good if the three could share. All been great.

The decisions already made with a round to go is ridiculous.

Well with Sydney locking in top spot there is nothing that says Cooks will play significant minutes this weekend especially on the doomsday double.

"OK, thanks. That's what's good, we are entitled to our opinions. In some aspects it would be good if the three could share. All been great."

I agree. I find it really hard to split them. All very worthy.