NBA's Top 20 Players Right Now

[godfather]

Speaking of Curry. He goes 6-19 without Green tonight for 15 points. Okay, it's ONE GAME. But I always found it odd Steph didn't become really, really good until Draymond came alone.

I feel Steph is more relied on others to be so great than Kyrie is. I never really feel Kyrie is relied on LeBron. Of course playing with LeBron helps, don't get me wrong, but Kyrie is a devastating scorer that just does it himself. He's not relying on screens, or playing off double teams to score. He just scores for himself like all the other great scorers do.

 

[Stark]

I will make my list later, but I do personally think that CP3 is a better all around player than Kyrie as of right now, today. That could easily change in the future, hell, maybe even later this season, but Chris Paul is being criminally underrated in here.

 

[gourimoko]

I will make my list later, but I do personally think that CP3 is a better all around player than Kyrie as of right now, today. That could easily change in the future, hell, maybe even later this season, but Chris Paul is being criminally underrated in here.

I've got Paul ahead of Irving as well, I think we all do.

 

[Walter White]

Speaking of Curry. He goes 6-19 without Green tonight for 15 points. Okay, it's ONE GAME. But I always found it odd Steph didn't become really, really good until Draymond came alone.

I feel Steph is more relied on others to be so great than Kyrie is. I never really feel Kyrie is relied on LeBron. Of course playing with LeBron helps, don't get me wrong, but Kyrie is a devastating scorer that just does it himself. He's not relying on screens, or playing off double teams to score. He just scores for himself like all the other great scorers do.

I think Kyrie would be a 27-30 point per game scorer without LeBron. Not to say he would be more efficient or have as many assists (maybe he would with the ball in his hands as much as a guy like Harden or Westbrook), but he doesn't have to do as much when LeBron James is on the team. When LeBron drops his scoring down more, I believe we will see Kyrie average 27+ a game. He is capable now, but I think it will be another 2-3 years before LeBron fully gives over the keys on that level.

 

[Stark]

1. LeBron James
2. Kevin Durant
3. Anthony Davis
4. Russell Westbrook
5. Kawhi Leonard
6. James Harden
7. Stephen Curry
8. Chris Paul
9. Giannis Antetokounmpo
10. Jimmy Butler
11. Kyrie Irving
12. DeMarcus Cousins
13. Damian Lillard
14. Paul George
15. Marc Gasol
16. Karl-Anthony Towns
17. Blake Griffin
18. Kevin Love
19. John Wall
20. Klay Thompson
21. Draymond Green
22. DeMar Derozan
23. Gordon Hayward
24. LaMarcus Aldridge
25. Carmelo Anthony

I probably made a stupid mistake or left somebody obvious off. Making these lists are pretty difficult, and pretty much everybody (besides LeBron and Durant), could probably shift a few places in either direction depending on whatever week it is. If I were to tier them all off, it'd probably look something like this:

Tier One: LeBron
Tier Two: Durant, Davis
Tier Three: Westbrook, Kawhi, Harden, Steph
Tier Four: CP3, Giannis, Butler, Kyrie, Cousins
Tier Five: Lillard, PG13, M. Gasol, KAT, Blake, Love
Tier Six: Wall, Klay, Draymond, DeRozan
Tier Seven: Hayward, Aldridge, Melo, Porzingis, Isaiah, Hassan


Come to think of it, I left Kemba Walker and Kyle Lowry completely off of everything. And Gobert. And Dwight. And Drummond. And Wade.

Fuck my list.

 

[Randolphkeys]

• 20 Klay Thompson

• 21 Draymond Green

...............That's how I knew you were drunk.

 

[Rich]

It changes weekly, but in no order these are the guys I think are in competition for the title of best player in the league right now and have been in that comversation for a while. Lebron, durant, curry, westbrook, harden, paul, and davis. Those are the primary mvp candidates this year, and they were the primary candidates last year too. Kawhi could be added to that group, but theres never been a point ive felt like he might be th best player like the other guys listed.

 

[Rich]

Also, Im surprised how many have durant ahead of both Harden and Westbrook. Hes playing with the two best shooters ever and the best playmaking PF in the league. Life on offense could not be any easier for Durant.

 

[Stark]

...............That's how I knew you were drunk.

Draymond is too low probably. I just want to see him on a different team to see how he'd play. I'd love (subjectively, I hate the guy's guts) to see him play with Harden on Houston or on a team like Boston or Chicago, just to see how different he would play.

His defensive skills to guard pretty much anybody and switch probably puts him closer to around 12-13, but I really don't know how much of his success is strictly a fabric of his environment versus actual basketball talent. I do think he's one of the three best candidates in the NBA, along with LeBron and Kawhi, to put up a 5x5 on any given night.


I do think I'm right about Klay though. He's probably right around 18-22.

 

[blommen]

I'm struggling with the ordering so I'm taking the cowards way out and doing tiers as well.

tier 1:
Bron - He might not be as athletic as he once were, but when the chips are down and it's all on the line there isn't one player I would rather have on my team and that goes for both offense and defense.

tier 2:
KD - Clearly the best scorer in the league and he has proven to be a hell of a defensive player as well. what seperates him from Bron is the fact that he's a mental midget and wilts under pressure. There are guys further down the list who are more mentally strong but I can't argue with KD's skillset, it's fucking terrifying.

tier 3: Davis, Harden, Westbrook, Kawhi
The Future MVP's lounge. Stat stuffers galore except for Kawhi who is legit the best and most consistent two way player in the league. You could make and argument for either of these guys being a tier 2 player but injuries, efficiency, defense or raw numbers keep them knockin' on the door.

tier 4: Curry, Kyrie, Paul, Giannis
A mix of players who you could argue would fit in real nicely in the 3rd tier, if not for the fact that they have other players on their teams they have to defer to one way or another. Giannis is the only player who is the big cheese on his respective team but he is still improving and still needs to prove that he can actually make a real playoff run before he's taken seriously

tier 5: DMC, Lillard, Love, Butler, PG13

Stat sheet stuffers of the highest Order with questionable team success as 1st options. Elite level skillsets but probably not fit for leading a contender.

tier 6: Griffin, Klay, Wall, Gasol, KAT

Run out of stuff to say, these guys are alright.

 

[Rich]

So here's my list. This is is how I made it: If I were allowed to just pick any player, who would I pick if the only goal was to win a title this season, and only this season. So it's different from an MVP, because certain players might be taking it easier than others (LeBron, Steph, Durant) during the regular season, thus not worthy of the MVP award, but still a better bet to have to win a title.

I'll rank them, but if players are in the same tier that means I pretty much view them as interchangeable, so if someone wants to debate how I could rank player X ahead of player Y in the same tier, just know I don't really care as I find both players to be extremely close.

Tier 1: 1) LeBron James 2) Russell Westbrook 3) Anthony Davis

Tier 2: 4) James Harden 5) Steph Curry 6) Kevin Durant 7) Kawhi Leonard 8) Chris Paul

Tier 3: 9) Giannis 10) Jimmy Butler 11) Kyrie Irving 12) Paul George

Tier 4: 13) Draymond Green 14) DeMarcus Cousins 15) Blake Griffin 16) Kevin Love

Tier 5: 17) Damian Lillard 18) Klay Thompson 19) John Wall 20) Karl-Anthony Towns

EDIT:
Honestly, I feel Durant is getting too much love here. He's scoring barely more efficiently than Curry is. He's hitting 25.7 points a game to Curry's 24.4 on a whopping 1% better eFG (58.9 to 57.8%). Yet, there's this idea that Durant is scoring marvelously efficient and Curry is having a very down year next to Durant. I'm not sure I understand it.

To me, they are having almost identical offensive years and Curry has already proven more, as the man, than Kevin Durant has. So unless Durant makes it clearly obvious he's better than Curry, I'm still going to remember Curry winning a title as the man and Durant not, thus giving Curry the edge.

It's also why neither has a good case as MVP. They are each playing next to a guy who is 25 ppg scorer with extreme efficiency. It makes their lives on offense infinitely easier as compared to, say, Russell Westbrook.

 

[The Oi]

I just don't even know what Draymond is doing in the top 20 at all.

Top 25...maybe.

He is truly a well rounded, damn good player. But he is so overhyped due to that roster he's on.

 

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

1) LeBron James




2) Russell Westbrook
3) Kevin Durant
4) Anthony Davis
5) Kawhi Leonard
6) James Harden

7) Stephen Curry
8) Greek Freak
9) Paul George
10) Chris Paul
11) Kyrie Irving
12) Jimmy Butler

13) Damian Lillard
14) DeMar DeRozan
15) Boogie Cousins
16) Blake Griffin
17) Marc Gasol
18) Kevin Love
19) John Wall
20) Draymond Green

21) Kyle Lowry
22) KAT
23) Gordon Hayward
24) Klay Thompson
25) LaMarcus Aldridge


I see the top-twenty in the NBA as four separate tiers. LeBron is all-alone as a "if he's on your team you are making the finals" level player. In the second tier, I view it as players that if they are on your team, you will make the playoffs and probably going to win at least one series. The tier-three guys are all players who, more than likely, would lead their teams to the playoffs. It's worth noting, on this list, I think both Kyrie and Gianni's will continue to vastly improve in the next three years. Those guys are two players who, if they aren't in the top two tiers in three years, something would have derailed them.

The fourth tier is guys who are incredibly talented, but, I don't see as able to lead their teams to the playoffs as the best player. They could all be the second best player on a championship team, but I don't see anything more than that.

The last five guys are all players who I think are nice pieces, and who probably could be the third best player on a championship team, but do not move the needle a significant enough amount to be ranked in the top-20.

How can you seriously put Paul George ahead of CP3?
CP3 is madly underrated here, he currently leads the league in RPM by a huge margin.
most of the guys here put Kyrie ahead of CP3 but there is no stat to support that in the slightest, so it's just homerism in my book or you just prefer the way he plays basketball.

This team with CP3 as their PG could rest LBJ for consecutive games without big consequences.
Kyrie has a long way till he has the sort of impact CP3 has.

And as for PG13, he can barely lead his team to the playoffs in the weak east. talk about hype..

 

[Jordan]

How can you seriously put Paul George ahead of CP3?
CP3 is madly underrated here, he currently leads the league in RPM by a huge margin.
most of the guys here put Kyrie ahead of CP3 but there is no stat to support that in the slightest, so it's just homerism in my book or you just prefer the way he plays basketball.

This team with CP3 as their PG could rest LBJ for consecutive games without big consequences.
Kyrie has a long way till he has the sort of impact CP3 has.

And as for PG13, he can barely lead his team to the playoffs in the weak east. talk about hype..

Because I watch other teams? I know you think you're the only one who watches basketball on here, and originally your posting was great, but you've directly insulted multiple posters since the start. Get over yourself. If you wanted to say, "I disagree with putting CP3 behind PG13 because xyz..." that's totally fine. But saying "how can you seriously put Paul George ahead of CP3" is straight-up disrespectful. If you think posters on here are so stupid - something you've insinuated multiple times - then feel free to leave. This forum was great before you, is great with you, and can be great without you. If you want to post informative content without attacking people, please stay, because you do know a lot about the NBA. But if your need is to demean other posters on here then, seriously, think about why you are posting on RCF.

As for your question, Paul George can guard the 1-4 at an elite level, and in the playoffs, his team was awful with him off the court. You talk about how good the Clippers are with Paul vs. without Paul while completely ignoring the corollary with George. Paul George led a team whose second best player was George Hill close to a victory over the Raptors in the first round. The only reason Indiana lost is because the Pacers straight-up could not score nor defend with PG13 resting.

Is PG13 inconsistent in the regular season? Yeah, he definitely is. Is CP3 a great player? Yeah, he is. Paul George is one of the five best two-way players in the NBA (LeBron, Kawhi, Butler, etc.). Paul is an amazing PG defender. He is arguably the best defensive PG in the NBA. But he can only guard the 1 because of his size. Paul George has show the ability to defend the 1-4 at an elite level, be the best player on a playoff team, be the best player on a playoff team that goes deep in the playoffs, lead his team in (efficient) scoring, and is still pretty young.

Finally, I don't know why you insinuate that I have Kyrie over CP3. I agree, CP3 is better right now. CP3 is a much better defender, better facilitator, and nearly as good of a scorer. In fact, you say most on here disagree, but most rankings I've seen on here have CP3 ranked higher. So I really don't know where you are getting this.

 

[blommen]

Because I watch other teams? I know you think you're the only one who watches basketball on here, and originally your posting was great, but you've directly insulted multiple posters since the start. Get over yourself. If you wanted to say, "I disagree with putting CP3 behind PG13 because xyz..." that's totally fine. But saying "how can you seriously put Paul George ahead of CP3" is straight-up disrespectful. If you think posters on here are so stupid - something you've insinuated multiple times - then feel free to leave. This forum was great before you, is great with you, and can be great without you. If you want to post informative content without attacking people, please stay, because you do know a lot about the NBA. But if your need is to demean other posters on here then, seriously, think about why you are posting on RCF.

As for your question, Paul George can guard the 1-4 at an elite level, and in the playoffs, his team was awful with him off the court. You talk about how good the Clippers are with Paul vs. without Paul while completely ignoring the corollary with George. Paul George led a team whose second best player was George Hill close to a victory over the Raptors in the first round. The only reason Indiana lost is because the Pacers straight-up could not score nor defend with PG13 resting.

Is PG13 inconsistent in the regular season? Yeah, he definitely is. Is CP3 a great player? Yeah, he is. Paul George is one of the five best two-way players in the NBA (LeBron, Kawhi, Butler, etc.). Paul is an amazing PG defender. He is arguably the best defensive PG in the NBA. But he can only guard the 1 because of his size. Paul George has show the ability to defend the 1-4 at an elite level, be the best player on a playoff team, be the best player on a playoff team that goes deep in the playoffs, lead his team in (efficient) scoring, and is still pretty young.

Finally, I don't know why you insinuate that I have Kyrie over CP3. I agree, CP3 is better right now. CP3 is a much better defender, better facilitator, and nearly as good of a scorer. In fact, you say most on here disagree, but most rankings I've seen on here have CP3 ranked higher. So I really don't know where you are getting this.