Lillard was ranked #10 at PG the other day. http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9531354/nba-projecting-top-10-shooting-guards-warp-2013-14 1 Wade 2 Harden 3 Manu 4 Kobe 5 Beal 6 Lou Williams 7 JR Smith 8 Danny Green 9 Monta Ellis 10 Kevin Martin
This is basically a WARP (wins above replacement player) rankings projection. #1 SG Wade's projected WARP is 11.8. #10 SG Kevin Martin is 4.7. At PG Chris Paul was #1 with 15.9 while Damian was #10 at 7.8; that shows how much stronger the players are at PG than SG.
If you dump out a pile of garbage on the ground and sort it, does it really matter the order you put things in?
Yeah I think this guy is sticking to the computer rankings too much. Manu ranked higher at SG than Parker was at PG, then guys like Beal with silly 3pt projection. Would be more interesting if they had 5 of their analysts do rankings than compile a list.
1 Wade - YES 2 Harden - YES 3 Manu - Not anymore 4 Kobe - Is he going to play in 13/14? 5 Beal - Really? 6 Lou Williams - Hmmm, didn't see PHI play enough. Does he play defense? I'll give this the benefit of the doubt. 7 JR Smith - Um, no. 8 Danny Green - Only while he's on the Spurs. 9 Monta Ellis - Hahahahaha 10 Kevin Martin - Hahahahaha
Of players who were played mostly at SG last season; those players I would take for Next Season Only: James Harden - only because I don't trust Wade to stay healthy enough Dwyane Wade [If I had the choice, I would take these guys and play them out of position at Shooting Guard before taking any of the rest of the SG's in the NBA right now, that is how shallow the position is: LeBron, Durant, Kyrie Irving, Steph Curry, Westbrook, Chris Paul.] *Kobe - I guess I have to list him. But, whatever, he might not play a full season. That is enough to diss him. I guess that list is right. After you take Wade and Harden the drop off is HUUUUUUGE. Then you list the great names - unknown 2013 contributions of the old/injured Kobe and Manu. After that the list doesn't really matter. There are any of a dozen guys you could pick to man the spot for a variety of reasons. You can easily make arguments for how some really young players are ready to bust out - Beal, MKG; how some gunner is going to have a career year jacking up shots; how some defenders or glue guys are the best fits for their teams - Tony Allen, Jimmy Butler, our own Wesley Matthews.