Ok so I wanted to redo now that we have a playoffs to look at. How you perform in the post-season should matter quite a bit.
I'm not gonna include guys who spent most of the season hurt. So no Kawhi or Hayward. Too hard to figure out where they rank, especially Hayward who I felt had a top 20 season last season, but it was by far his best season. So hard to know at this point if that was a slight outlier or what.
1. LeBron
2. Anthony Davis
3. Kevin Durant
4. Giannis. I was very close to to putting Giannis 3, Durant is great but people can't pretend the fact that he gets single coverage the entire game because of who is on his team doesn't matter. Giannis doesn't get that. Davis doesn't get that. LeBron definitely doesn't get that. And all the shit Giannis got for not getting out of the 1st round doesn't seem so bad now, does it? He was awesome against the Celtics
5. Chris Paul. Better than Harden this post-season imo. Definitely better in the GS series. Makes an impact defensively that neither Harden nor Curry make. That's true for all of the guys in the top 5. They defend at high levels (at least when needed, in LeBron's case)
6. James Harden
7. Stephen Curry
8. Russell Westbrook. Takes a big hit this year. Talent was upgraded but his team wasn't any better for it. Lost in the 1st round to a Utah team led by a rookie.
9. Jimmy Butler
10. Joel Embiid. Needs to have better offensive efficiency, but his defensive impact is 2nd to none, and compared to guys like Gobert and Capela, he's far more offensively talented.
11. Nikola Jokic. This might be high, but I feel he's the most offensively gifted center in the league
12. Victor Oladipo. Just flat out looked like a better player than Paul George. Had the Cavs not fucked off all year and ended up with the 4th seed, the Pacers have a good shot at getting out of round 1 against Philly or Toronto
13. Kyrie Irving
14. DeMarcus Cousins. Verrry much struggling with this one, considering how his team looked w/o him. But I'll be generous and give it another year
15. Draymond Green
16. Clint Capela. Best roll man in the league. Best center at defending on the switch in the league. Outplayed Towns and Gobert in back to back series.
17. Karl Anthony-Towns
18. Damian Lillard. Reallllly struggling with this one too. Was completely shut down by Jrue HOliday in 4 straight games. Was very temped to jump Holiday into the top 20, but that seems hasty.
19. Paul George. Falls down the list substantially. Was put on a good team with a great player and just failed to make a major impact all season long. His offense is overrated, particularly when he creates instead of catches and shoots.
20. Klay Thompson
Guys who feel robbed: Al Horford, John Wall, DeMarr DeRozan, Kristaps Porzingis, Rudy Gobert, Ben Simmons. Al Horford is the one I struggle with the most. He's been awesome this post-season, particularly defensively. I feel like he probably deserves it more than Lillard, but I can't ignore the years of evidence of Lillard being a more impactful player.