NBA's Top 20 Players Right Now

[Rich]

Catching up on this thread now, but super disappointed to see so many lists where Kyrie is a tier lower than stick boy #2

That makes zero sense to me. Especially with how many posts in here are making valid critisisms of Stephs game this year

I think a lot of people are scared of being a homer by ranking Kyrie too highly

Game 7 and you've got to pick between Kyrie and steph.

Who you got?

Exactly. So why is it so easily accepted Stephen is a tier up?

Its just hard to ignore how his defense has yet again fallen into the toilet bowl

 

[ACisKING]

Harden guarded LeBron if I recall.

Yea it was mostly Harden on LeBron and he got absolutely roasted.

 

[ACisKING]

Its just hard to ignore how his defense has yet again fallen into the toilet bowl

Kyrie is one of my favorite players in the league but his defense has been so bad that I can't put him in the top ten. He's bad at every aspect of defense, and though I believe that a lot of that is due to effort, that's hardly an excuse.

 

[gourimoko]

Kyrie is one of my favorite players in the league but his defense has been so bad that I can't put him in the top ten. He's bad at every aspect of defense, and though I believe that a lot of that is due to effort, that's hardly an excuse.

I agree, his defense is bad...

All that I ask is that people understand one can quantify to what degree Kyrie's defense costs the Cavs; and it is not anywhere near equal to Kyrie's offensive contributions.

Moreover, if poor defender's don't belong in the Top 10, then Harden has no business there either.

 

[blommen]

I agree, his defense is bad...

All that I ask is that people understand one can quantify to what degree Kyrie's defense costs the Cavs; and it is not anywhere near equal to Kyrie's offensive contributions.

Moreover, if poor defender's don't belong in the Top 10, then Harden has no business there either.

Yeah, In the end it all comes down to whether the positives outweigh the negatives and I think that's the case when it comes to both Irving and Harden. Neither of those guys are good defenders, both of them are probably capable of playing passable defense but aren't putting in maximum effort and both guys are still integral to their teams success.

You could argue that Harden has to conserve himself because of how big of a role he plays on offense for Houston, but then again you could argue that Irving has already proven that he can be, if not a good defender, then at least a passable one when it counts.

Ultimately, I think they both belong in the top 10, though I have Kyrie markedly further down the list than Harden personally.

 

[gourimoko]

What were we talking about in here again? Kyrie Irving?

 

[Stark]

I'm dropping Curry from #7 to #32. Write up coming soon.

 

[blommen]

Yeah, Kyrie is a top 10 player

 

[gourimoko]

I'm dropping Curry from #7 to #32. Write up coming soon.

There ya go...

I mean, overall, I still had Steph ahead of Irving, but... running out of excuses to keep him there to be honest... Particularly with Curry being BENCHED running down the stretch in the 4th and Irving continually, game after game after game, outplaying him.. At some point, one has to just say Irving is the better basketball player.

 

[Randolphkeys]

The Kyrie critics are going to point to his defensive effort, especially the consistency in the regular season. I think at this point, Kyrie is legitimately the most clutch offensive force in the 4th quarter in the NBA. Before LeBron came home, Kyrie took his game to another level in the 4th quarter in meaningless regular season matchups. People forget because of that year of rehab.

I had Kyrie in my top 10 before it was cool.

 

[3 Ball...GOT IT]

1. LeBron James
2. Kevin Durant
3. Kawhi Leonard
4. James Harden
5. Stephen Curry
6. Russell Westbrook
7. Chris Paul
8. Anthony Davis
9. Paul George
10. Kyrie Irving
11. Demarcus Cousins
12. Kyle Lowry
13. Damian Lillard
14. Draymond Green
15. DeAndre Jordan
16. Klay Thompson
17. Marc Gasol
18. John Wall
19. Joel Embiid
20. Kevin Love

Just missed for me:
Blake, Kemba, Giannis, Melo, Millsap, Butler, Conley, Derozan

Had they been healthy Favors and Bosh would be close too for me probably.

And yes, you are seeing it correctly. Embiid at 19.

 

[Stark]

1. LeBron James
2. Kevin Durant
3. Kawhi Leonard
4. James Harden
5. Stephen Curry
6. Russell Westbrook
7. Chris Paul
8. Anthony Davis
9. Paul George
10. Kyrie Irving
11. Demarcus Cousins
12. Kyle Lowry
13. Damian Lillard
14. Draymond Green
15. DeAndre Jordan
16. Klay Thompson
17. Marc Gasol
18. John Wall
19. Joel Embiid
20. Kevin Love

Just missed for me:
Blake, Kemba, Giannis, Melo, Millsap, Butler, Conley, Derozan

Had they been healthy Favors and Bosh would be close too for me probably.

And yes, you are seeing it correctly. Embiid at 19.

Giannis outside of the top-20? He's absolutely insane this year.

23.4 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 5.8 APG, 2.1 SPG, 1.9 BPG, 52.5% FG, 28.6% 3PT, 79.2 FT%, 28.26 PER

Can legitimately play 1-5 on the floor. He's probably top-8 as of now.

 

[3 Ball...GOT IT]

Giannis outside of the top-20? He's absolutely insane this year.

23.4 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 5.8 APG, 2.1 SPG, 1.9 BPG, 52.5% FG, 28.6% 3PT, 79.2 FT%, 28.26 PER

Can legitimately play 1-5 on the floor. He's probably top-8 as of now.

Yea, I should probably move him up. Definitely wouldn't say top 8 though unless he can sustain this pace over the entire year, which could very well happen, but there's nobody I'd take out there in favor of him

 

[Pioneer10]

Giannis is #2 in ESPN RAPM, #3 in PER, #2 in boxscore +/- and he's doing this on a team where Brodgon, Delly, Snell, Beasley, and Terry are all averaging more then 15mpg. He's crashing the top player board with authority

 

[The Wizard of Moz]

Misses in the draft will happen but if you're going to basically draft 100% on potential on a shitty draft with the top pick I'll never understand taking a fat Canadian over a Greek freak

I'll admit I didn't follow the draft that closely that year (I took a break from Cavs drafts after we picked Waiters over Drummond. I don't even think the Browns have ever made me that mad), but seriously Bennett was just an unreasonably bad pick on so many levels