Top 25 Players in the NBA

[KSF-ERIC]

Hilarious.

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2021/5/4/22416337/top-25-nba-player-ranking-lebron-james-nikola-jokic

1. Nikola Jokic
2. Lebron James
3. Joel Embiid
4. Steph Curry
5. Kevin Durant
6. Kawhi Leonard
7. Giannis Antetokounmpo
8. James Harden
9. Anthony Davis
10. Luka Doncic
11. Damian Lillard
12. Chris Paul
13. Zion Williamson
14. Paul George
15. Jimmy Butler
16. Kyrie Irving
17. Jayson Tatum
18. Rudy Gobert
19. Bradley Beal
20. Devin Booker
21. Julius Randle
22. Donovan Mitchell
23. Bam Adebayo
24. Jrue Holiday
25. Karl Anthony Towns

 

[SlyPokerDog]

What would your list look like?

 

[KSF-ERIC]

What would your list look like?

Well I wouldn’t have Jokic over LeBron and I wouldn’t have Giannis at 7th. Top 10 is something like this:

LeBron
Giannis
AD
Kawhi
Curry
Dame
Harden
Jokic
Embiid
Doncic
KD

 

[Strenuus]

Is this list based off their production this year or at the beginning of the year?

 

[KSF-ERIC]

Is this list based off their production this year or at the beginning of the year?

Based on right now. Not who is having the best season. Just who is the best period.

 

[BigGameDamian]

Well I wouldn’t have Jokic over LeBron and I wouldn’t have Giannis at 7th. Top 10 is something like this:

LeBron
Giannis
AD
Kawhi
Curry
Dame
Harden
Jokic
Embiid
Doncic
KD

No Powell, CJ, Melo or Nurkic?

 

[Strenuus]

Based on right now. Not who is having the best season. Just who is the best period.

Hmm. As much as I hate jokic him being #1 seems right. Harden should be lower because he never plays and he quit on his team. Giannis is fun to watch but I also think he's overrated.

Pretty much if you've been injured you should be lower in the list. Ad and LeBron were out so they should be lower. We are talking about right now.

 

[RoseCityRebel]

I know his game gets a lot of hate but Russell Westbrook is still a Top 25 player right now.

Zion being 13 is a joke, right?

Also, replace Jrue Holiday with Khris Middleton. Holiday is only a Top 25 player when he plays Lillard.

 

[wizenheimer]

Hilarious.

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2021/5/4/22416337/top-25-nba-player-ranking-lebron-james-nikola-jokic

1. Nikola Jokic
2. Lebron James
3. Joel Embiid
4. Steph Curry
5. Kevin Durant
6. Kawhi Leonard
7. Giannis Antetokounmpo
8. James Harden
9. Anthony Davis
10. Luka Doncic
11. Damian Lillard
12. Chris Paul
13. Zion Williamson
14. Paul George
15. Jimmy Butler
16. Kyrie Irving
17. Jayson Tatum
18. Rudy Gobert
19. Bradley Beal
20. Devin Booker
21. Julius Randle
22. Donovan Mitchell
23. Bam Adebayo
24. Jrue Holiday
25. Karl Anthony Towns

I'd move Dane to 9th dropping Doncic and AD a spot

Zion and Kyrie are too high. Neither are better than PG13, Butler, Tatum or Beal. I'd even put Booker and Mitchell above them

 

[KSF-ERIC]

I know his game gets a lot of hate but Russell Westbrook is still a Top 25 player right now.

Zion being 13 is a joke, right?

Also, replace Jrue Holiday with Khris Middleton. Holiday is only a Top 25 player when he plays Lillard.

Zion is 4th in PER. His team would suck without him. Should be higher. Prob better than KD.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

I'd move Dane to 9th dropping Doncic and AD a spot

Zion and Kyrie are too high. Neither are better than PG13, Butler, Tatum or Beal. I'd even put Booker and Mitchell above them

What?? Only Embiid, Jokic, and Giannis have a better PER than Zion. Kyrie is crazy good when he plays.

 

[wizenheimer]

What?? Only Embiid, Jokic, and Giannis have a better PER than Zion. Kyrie is crazy good when he plays.

I wasn't basing it off of PER...you put too much stock in that single stat

 

[KSF-ERIC]

I wasn't basing it off of PER...you put too much stock in that single stat

It does say a lot though. He’s mad efficient and they’d be worst team in league without him.

 

[RoseCityRebel]

Zion is 4th in PER. His team would suck without him. Should be higher. Prob better than KD.

Above Durant?

Oh, OK. I like Top 15 players who make the playoffs. Zion is also one of the worst defenders of any “star” player. His game is based on explosion and that doesn’t hold up for long at his weight and injury history.

 

[RoseCityRebel]

What?? Only Embiid, Jokic, and Giannis have a better PER than Zion. Kyrie is crazy good when he plays.

Hassan Whiteside was 10th in PER last season. Jokic was 11th. Obviously Hassan was a Top 10 NBA player last year.

That’s why he’s doing so well on the Kings.

 

[blazerkor]

I wanted to be mad at the list but then I looked at it and there's a good argument for everyone of those guys in the top 10 being better than our guy. Now, if our team made the wide open shots Dame sets them up for or if Dame had a second option that made teams pay for blitzing him, he'd probably end up higher on the list. Hell, if he had a coach that got on him every time he half assed it on D, he'd be damn near the top of the list.

 

[RoseCityRebel]

I wanted to be mad at the list but then I looked at it and there's a good argument for everyone of those guys in the top 10 being better than our guy. Now, if our team made the wide open shots Dame sets them up for or if Dame had a second option that made teams pay for blitzing him, he'd probably end up higher on the list. Hell, if he had a coach that got on him every time he half assed it on D, he'd be damn near the top of the list.

Dame’s second option is a Top 30 scorer in the NBA,with over 23ppg.

Offensively, CJ is not a problem as the second scoring option.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

Above Durant?

Oh, OK. I like Top 15 players who make the playoffs. Zion is also one of the worst defenders of any “star” player. His game is based on explosion and that doesn’t hold up for long at his weight and injury history.

Pels lost 13 straight without him last season. They would be worst team in league without him. I don’t like Top 15 players who have to join 73-9 team to win championship.

 

[blazerkor]

Dame’s second option is a Top 30 scorer in the NBA,with over 23ppg.

Offensively, CJ is not a problem as the second scoring option.

He most definitely is, in my opinion. He's too similar to Dame. The two of them tend to take turns and rarely run any kind of two man game. They aren't complimentary to each other. You can blame that on Stotts if you want and you can point to CJ's productivity but they take each other out of plays. Also for whatever reason, CJ never takes advantage of the 4 on 3 situations when Dame gets the ball out on time against the trap.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

Hassan Whiteside was 10th in PER last season. Jokic was 11th. Obviously Hassan was a Top 10 NBA player last year.

That’s why he’s doing so well on the Kings.

That doesn’t mean every player with a great PER sucks cuz Whiteside sucks. Zion is good.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

I wanted to be mad at the list but then I looked at it and there's a good argument for everyone of those guys in the top 10 being better than our guy. Now, if our team made the wide open shots Dame sets them up for or if Dame had a second option that made teams pay for blitzing him, he'd probably end up higher on the list. Hell, if he had a coach that got on him every time he half assed it on D, he'd be damn near the top of the list.

Dame needs someone to tell him to play D or he won’t do it?

 

[blazerkor]

Dame needs someone to tell him to play D or he won’t do it?

Honestly, I think everyone needs encouragement to do the best that they can at things they struggle with, especially someone who a second later can exhibit that he's better than everyone else on the other end of the court. Dame has terrible lapses of concentration and effort on defense. Also, I think Dame has the perfect personality to take harsh criticism from coaches.

This is all conjecture though, maybe the reporters, the times he's been miked up, the post game press conferences, the time's there has been audio at practices and training camp and all of the other proof is not indicative of Stotts' coaching style and he is into giving harsh critique to his players in order to make real time adjustments and reinforce the things he requires of them as their head coach. Also maybe Dame is an uncoachable premodonna. My hunch is that Dame is coachable and Stotts is the softest coach in the league.

 

[bobf]

Hilarious.

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2021/5/4/22416337/top-25-nba-player-ranking-lebron-james-nikola-jokic

1. Nikola Jokic
2. Lebron James
3. Joel Embiid
4. Steph Curry
5. Kevin Durant
6. Kawhi Leonard
7. Giannis Antetokounmpo
8. James Harden
9. Anthony Davis
10. Luka Doncic
11. Damian Lillard
12. Chris Paul
13. Zion Williamson
14. Paul George
15. Jimmy Butler
16. Kyrie Irving
17. Jayson Tatum
18. Rudy Gobert
19. Bradley Beal
20. Devin Booker
21. Julius Randle
22. Donovan Mitchell
23. Bam Adebayo
24. Jrue Holiday
25. Karl Anthony Towns

Zion - too high
Kyrie - not top 25
Gobert - way too low

 

[bobf]

He most definitely is, in my opinion. He's too similar to Dame. The two of them tend to take turns and rarely run any kind of two man game. They aren't complimentary to each other. You can blame that on Stotts if you want and you can point to CJ's productivity but they take each other out of plays. Also for whatever reason, CJ never takes advantage of the 4 on 3 situations when Dame gets the ball out on time against the trap.

CJ also often passes up fairly open 3’s and instead opts himself into having to create a midrange 2 vs multiple defenders. Pre-injury he had shed that tendency and was taking those 3’s.

 

[wizenheimer]

CJ also often passes up fairly open 3’s and instead opts himself into having to create a midrange 2 vs multiple defenders. Pre-injury he had shed that tendency and was taking those 3’s.

I hadn't really noticed the change

IIRC, over that first dozen games he had a 3pt attempt rate above 55%. Now it's dropped down to 48%. Still much higher than his career mark of 35%, but it has dropped pretty substantially. If my math is right it's 44% since he came back