Kendrick Perkins isn’t known for having the best basketball takes, but the former big man did put together a respectable list when he ranked the current top five point guards in the NBA.
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Perk started his list with MVP frontrunner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, followed by Jalen Brunson, Stephen Curry, Luka Doncic, and Cade Cunningham.
Stephen A. Smith surprisingly didn’t have a problem with Perk’s list, noting just one nitpick. The longtime analyst believes Doncic’s placement could be challenged, considering he had been injured for a stretch before beginning to return to form in Los Angeles.
Smith doesn’t have any gripe with Perk’s other rankings, though, stressing that all of SGA, Steph, and Brunson deserve their top three placements. What Stephen A. loved most, though, was the 2008 champion’s inclusion of Cade Cunningham on the list.
“[Cade] deserves to be in there. That brother can ball, and he’s doing special things in the Motor City,” Stephen A. said. After praising Detroit’s rising star, he pointed to their head coach, JB Bickerstaff, as his pick for Coach of the Year this season.
Smith credited both Cleveland’s Kenny Atkinson and L.A.’s JJ Redick but pointed out the rare turnaround that the Pistons are experiencing this season. “When you consider where Detroit was last year with pretty much the same squad… and here they are balling like this,” Stephen A. continued.
The Pistons finished a franchise-worst 14-68 last season, resulting in several front office replacements. The team also brought in Bickerstaff, who is currently leading Detroit to one of the greatest single-season turnarounds in NBA history without adding an All-Star caliber talent.
Coach of the Year is still up for grabs
Bickerstaff may be accomplishing something not even the most optimistic Pistons fans saw coming, but he’s far from a guarantee to win Coach of the Year. Atkinson has the Cavaliers steamrolling their opponents every night and is on pace to lead the team to a 65-win campaign, which would be the second best in franchise history.
Meanwhile, Redick has shut down any doubters he had regarding his coaching abilities, as he currently has his Lakers placed comfortably in the Western Conference’s two seed.
Both Atkinson and Redick have performed admirably with their new teams this year, but both the Cavs and Lakers were already good last year, having made the playoffs.
The Pistons went from one of the most hopeless franchises in the league to a bonafide playoff contender, a feat that not too many coaches can assume credit for. But JB Bickerstaff can, and should, receive all the praise in the world for what he has done in Detroit this season.
