3 Blazers in sbnation's NBA Top 100 in 2017

[Denny Crane]

So you think there were nearly 100 players better than Lillard last year? Well obviously #42 is a great improvement by that metric I guess you’re a Lillard lover.

Lillard clearly was the Blazers second best player and arguably had a better 2013 season than all-star LaMarcus. With the worst bench in NBA history Portland should feel lucky to have a better record than any team. They had a record of 20-15 at one point; and 33-36 in late March, quite amazing indeed.

There were only 29 players who put up a 20+ PER. It includes players such as Andray Blatche, Anderson Varejao, Brandan Wright, Al Jefferson, and JaVale McGee. Hopefully with a lot of hard work in four years Lillard can improve so he’s as good as those guys.

Where do you rank him this year?

I think top 100, like I said.

Some guys are great at putting up gaudy (16 PER isn't gaudy tho) stats on losing teams. I still say he will change peoples' minds if he shows improvement toward the upper tier of players (over 20 PER).

 

[BigGameDamian]

Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, Tyreke Evans all better than Wes? How can that be?

 

[OneLifeToLive]

I'm thinking they might need to find a spot for McCollum. Maybe Thomas Robinson.

 

[Draco]

Where do you rank him this year?

I think top 100, like I said.

Some guys are great at putting up gaudy (16 PER isn't gaudy tho) stats on losing teams. I still say he will change peoples' minds if he shows improvement toward the upper tier of players (over 20 PER).

Heres my ranks for last season if players were healthy. A lot of guys were injured which would probably move Lillard into the 30's as obviously he was better than fellow rookie Anthony Davis or non-playing Derrick Rose.

1 LEBRON
2 DURANT
3 PARKER
4 PAUL
5 HOWARD
6 IRVING
7 DIRK
8 CURRY
9 KOBE
10 ROSE
11 CHANDLER
12 WESTBROOK
13 MELO
14 WADE
15 DUNCAN
16 HARDEN
17 DERON
18 HORFORD
19 ALDRIDGE
20 PIERCE
21 NOAH
22 MARC
23 RONDO
24 HIBBERT
25 WALL
26 SANDERS
27 IGGY
28 DAVIS
29 JOSH
30 LOVE
31 HOLIDAY
32 BOSH
33 KAWHI
34 GARNETT
35 DENG
36 GEORGE
37 ZBO
38 GRIFFIN
39 LAWSON
40 GALINARI
41 MILLSAP
42 IBAKA
43 AK47
44 LILLARD

 

[mook]

Where do you rank him this year?

I think top 100, like I said.

Some guys are great at putting up gaudy (16 PER isn't gaudy tho) stats on losing teams. I still say he will change peoples' minds if he shows improvement toward the upper tier of players (over 20 PER).

Lillard did lead the entire league in minutes played. I don't believe that's been done by a rookie in a very, very long time. You have to take the big minutes into account when you evaluate his utility this last year. Every extra minute he played kept an inferior bench guy on the bench.

Going forward you have to figure that as he plays 32-35 mpg like most NBA point guards, he'll have higher per-minute productivity. There's a reason why even with all the great PG's we have in the league now only 6 of them play more than 35mpg. There's severely diminishing returns at that point in efficiency, and Lillard likely suffered from that last season.

 

[VanillaGorilla]

I didn't know where to post this and since he's on this list, I'll just do it here.


HIBBERT IS HUGE NOW

 

[Draco]

Maybe Lillard can move up a dozen spots this year to a tie with Rubio?

 

[PDXFonz]

This list is worse than the shit espn posts....

Edit: just realized the date on this. Im Sure they would all be higher after this season.

 

[Boob-No-More]

No. 30 - Ricky Rubio: If there's one guy I picked outside of the top 10 who I think is a sure-thing, All-NBA player at some point between today and 2017, it's Ricky. And that's mostly because everyone adores Ricky...

Bwahaha... Yeah, a guy who needs the ball in his hands, but isn't a threat to score is going to be All-NBA. Right. I've been saying this about Rubio since he first came into the league, a PG who can't shoot AND can't finish at the rim, is a major road block to success in today's NBA. All the Minnesota fans that "adore" Ricky claim he's a great passer who makes his team better. The fact is, he's a flashy passer with a good, but not elite AST% who turns the ball over way too much and can't score to save his life.

In the past, they've used the injury excuse for why their team consistently underachieves. Well this year that excuse was no longer valid and they still missed the playoffs and finished with a losing record. They were HORRIBLE at finishing close games, and that was largely Rubio's fault. With the game close, in the 4th quarter, other teams backed off Rubio, clogged the passing lanes and dared him to shoot. He had so little confidence in his ability to shoot the basketball (justifiably so) that he became totally useless and ended up getting benched in the 4th quarter of close games in favor of JJ Barea.

If you look at the Clutch Statistics (4th quarter or overtime, less than 5 minutes left, neither team ahead by more than 5 points) at 82games.com you will see that the Timberwolves were outscored by 71 points with Rubio in the game and the game on the line. That's an appallingly bad -25.0 net points/48 in clutch situations.

Now, compare that to Damian Lillard, a guy these idiots ranked 12 spots LOWER than Rubio. The Blazers outscored their opponents by 95 points with Lillard in the game and the game on the line. That's +23.1 net points/48 in clutch situations.

This is why Lillard is an all-star on a team that won 54 games and made it to the second round of the playoffs, and Rubio is a liability on a team with a losing record. This is also why you shouldn't turn to sbnation for your basketball coverage. Relying on these guys for projections of NBA players is like asking the guy who mows your lawn for stock tips.

BNM

 

[BlazerWookee]

How the fuck does this inanity even spark a conversation?

 

[Boob-No-More]

How the fuck does this inanity even spark a conversation?

Welcome to the off season. We don't even have a draft pick to argue about this year.

BNM

 

[BLAZINGGIANTS]

Welcome to the off season. We don't even have a draft pick to argue about this year.

BNM

We can argue about whether or not Paul Allen will be able to buy one, though.

 

[BBert]

How the fuck does this inanity even spark a conversation?

Nothing sparks a conversation like Sean inanity. Except for his identical twin, Seth stupidity.

 

[blue9]

Aldridge placed No. 21. He's not flashy and his rebounding stats have always been a little low, but a 6'11, 240-pound player with his size, athleticism and shooting touch will be an excellent player for a very long time. - Jonathan Tjarks

Batum placed No. 61.
He needs to become more efficient... -Conrad Kaczmarek

Okay, it's this type of stuff that really gets me. LMA has a great shooting touch and Nic needs to be more efficient? Ha!
Who is it that leads our team in AFG%? That'd be...Nic!
Where does LMA land on the list? Oh, let's see here...NUMBER 10!?! Behind the likes of Freeland, Mo, Wright, Robinson, and McCollum!?!