Today we are continuing with the final column of my 3 part series on the top 30 players I would start my NBA franchise with. I’m starting at #10 and working my way down to 1. As I have done in the previous editions of this project I broke players down into groups and discussed compared them instead of just doing a rote listing. Let me know who I’ve got too high or too low.
Guys who Could become the Best Players in the League, but have to Learn How to Shoot
10. Ben Simmons
7. Zion Williamson
Good luck finding a more dynamic, versatile, unique combination of skills than these two have. It’s no exaggeration to suggest in a few years we will be able to say these two are a pair the only handful of guys in League history that could credibly play any position on the court 1-5 offensively and defensively. The size, feel for the game, athleticism, handle, and passing is so rarely seen at this high of a level across the board that it feels criminal to have them this low.
Still when the games matter the most and defenses become locked in on a whole other level, players weaknesses get particularly bright lights shined on them. The inability to shoot at an even competent level has greatly hurt Simmons during his 2 playoff runs with the Sixers, and could potentially derail Zion as well.
When I first started tackling this exercise I actually had Simmons ahead. Of the two he is the one we have actually seen use this incredible skillset in an actual NBA game before. That being said, he’s older and has yet to show ANY development in that jump shot outside of a couple quick videos on twitter. Shooting prowess generally develops incrementally, Simmons won’t even take them in the games.
And that is without getting into the mechanics of the shot. I’m no shooting coach, but that shot is the opposite of pure. It looks like somebody threw Ray Allen in a blender or something. Making things particularly awkward is the fact that we still don’t know which hand he should be shooting with! I’m normally one to bet on a players shooting to improve as time goes on, but Simmons is starting in such a deep pit one has to wonder if we’ll ever get to enjoy the beauty of his game at the highest level as teams will always find a way to game plan for him.
You could argue I have Zion five spots too high, or too low and I wouldn’t argue with you. The argument he’s too low is that in my lifetime there have only been 3 prospects with more hype coming out of the draft than him: Tim Duncan, Lebron James, and Anthony Davis. Or to simplify: that’s the second and fifth best players all time, along with a guy who’s name we haven’t gotten to yet on this list. If his career pans out like AD’s, which has gone well, but far from perfect he should be top 5.
The counterpoint would be: We still have not seen him in a game yet! At Duke he wasn’t even his own teams own leading scorer. Will he be a true offensive alpha in the NBA? He’s so damn powerful and explosive that he might blow through a shoe again and hurt himself even worse than the last time.
All of those points were enough to push him down a little bit. Ultimately, he goes ahead of Simmons as at least we know that he’s shooting with the correct hand.
The Best Big Men in the Game
9. Anthony Davis
8. Nikola Jokic
The placement of these two may be somewhat controversial, but it shouldn’t be. And while there may be only one space separating these two, the gap is larger than that. Nikola Jokic is a better player than Anthony Davis right now, and he’s a couple years younger.
Jokic has one of the oddest looking games you’ll find in the league. There is no template to follow of guys who play like him. They just don’t make that many 7 footers who can’t jump over a telephone book yet make passes that make Steve Nash jealous. He’s also kind of fat, and looks like he might chain-smoke and/or helped Vladimir Putin murder people.
That being said almost every part of his game that people have brought up as a weakness or a potential long term issue either gets proven false or is just plain wrong.
The defense is the easy one, and it makes sense. The stereotype of a defensive center is a DeAndre Jordan type big time athlete who plays well above the rim, swatting shots from every direction and protecting the paint at a high level. Jokic certainly does not fit this module. Still, just like he does on offense he can see one step ahead and is almost always in correct position on rotations and hardly ever leaves the backside unprotected to go after a careless shot block attempt. He also uses his huge body to box out defenders and his hands are almost like magnets.
There was also the concern of how his playing style would hold up in the playoffs. This last year seemed to answer that question. While most players, especially younger guys, see their numbers and particularly their percentages drop in the postseason the Joker kept on producing at the same pace. Maybe it’ll become an issue deeper in the playoffs, but seeing as he’s a guy that can you there in the first place, he’s already shown more than AD.
Anthony Davis is a Chicago kid and I like him a lot as player, but at times I wonder if he might be a tad overrated, especially in comparison to Jokic as he does fit that traditional archetype of a big man. His defense is great, (and definitely better than Nikola’s), but he can get caught out of position from time to time and really doesn’t read the game at that elite level.
Offensively it’s a similar story. There is no stronger rim runner in the pick and roll than AD. He’s a hall of fame roll man in my book. Still that’s one of the easiest skills to find in the NBA nowadays, and it’s effectiveness is significantly more predicated on the ball handler and the spacing around it. Jokic’s passing is a waaaaayyyy more valuable asset. The final part that chips away at Davis’s value is his insistence that he’s a Power Forward. It forces him from what he does best, protecting the paint and diving to the rim, by dragging him away from the basket.
Anthony Davis was not what was wrong with New Orleans Pelicans basketball the past few years, however, the fact that he’s only gotten out of the first round of the playoffs once can at least partially be attributed to him just not quite being on that Lebron or even Steph/Harden class of superstar.
The Best Young Prospect in Basketball
3. Luka Doncic
Luka Doncic is the best young prospect in basketball who has already played in an NBA game and it’s not even close. What he achieved last year as a teenager in the league is incredible. He had huge expectations coming into the league as the best European prospect ever and found a way to even clear that bar.
Lebron James, Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson and Tyreke Evans are the only other players who put up 20-5-5 in their rookie seasons. Michael was the only one who did it with his level of efficiency, Lebron was the only one to do it at a younger age. You could make a decent argument that there have been less than 5 people ever to be as dominant at the sport at his age ever. This dude earns all the superlatives.
All that being said, why then does he slot in at #3 instead of #1? The same reason he slipped to #3 in the draft. There are concerns that his merely average athleticism means that he just does not have the same ceiling as some of these other guys. When watching Luka play there aren’t any weaknesses that make you wonder, “man he’s going to be so much better if he masters x-part of his game” like Ben Simmons’ jumper or an early career Anthony Davis’ handle. Despite being 5 years younger than Giannis, he feels like he might already be closer to his ceiling.
Ultimately, he projects as a guy who will hover around Top 5 player in the league, but never reaches #1 for close to a decade, like 95% of current James Harden’s offense with a little better defense. Depending on your taste for going for a championship right now, versus wanting to have a winning franchise for the next decade, you could put him in any order you wanted with 4 of the biggest superstars in the sport coming next on the list.
Guys who Might be the Best Players in Basketball Right Now
6. Lebron James
5. Kawhi Leonard
4. James Harden
2. Steph Curry
I have no idea with what to do with Lebron James in an exercise like this. His resume is significantly stronger than anybody else’s in the game, and nobody will match his peak. Still, how much does he have left in the tank? The effects of aging are obvious. He hides on defense, and takes more of those 30 foot 3’s each passing year. It makes sense with over 54,000 minutes on the career odometer. He’s still a near sure top 5 player in the league now, but are you just getting one season of that? Would this be the equivalent of going all in on just one season?
All of the reasons stated against Lebron above make sense, but if the goal is to win as many championships as possible, starting with the guy I would take over everyone in a winner take all Game 7 kind of scenario makes a lot of sense. The best play might be to start with Lebron, fill the roster with as many veterans that can play defense and splash three’s the rest of the draft and go get a ring right now. Is Cleveland crying right now about how bad their situation is post Lebron? I’d take a half decade in the lottery if Lebron and this veteran core could get me a ring in the 2-3 years or whatever they’re together.
A lot of people would have Kawhi Leonard 1 or 2 if they were putting together this list and that’s totally fair. Having him on top after last years playoff run is 100 percent justifiable.
Still, I would argue there is a lot of recency bias in the people who have him number one. If the 76er’s had an average backup center and didn’t get outscored by 99 points in the minutes Joel Embiid was resting in their series is Kawhi still your 1? What if Fred Van Vleet goes 6 for 17 instead of 14 for 17 in the Eastern Conference Finals? What if KD were healthy? A lot of things had to go right for the Raptors winning it all. Simply anointing Kawhi as the best player in the world because he was the best player on the champions is lazy analysis at best.
True he carried that Toronto team in the playoffs, but they went 17-5 in games without during the regular season. Having such a good team around him allowed him to coast a little bit throughout the regular season so that he could be fresh and take over when the games matter the most starting in April. In all Kawhi is more of an ultimate cherry on top kind of player rather than drag a lottery team to 50 win prime Lebron level player. If I’m taking him top 5 in a draft like this it’s going to be extremely difficult to build the requisite depth to allow him to do the whole “load management” thing and not be behind the 8 ball come playoff time.
In all Kawhi is more of an ultimate cherry on top kind of player rather than drag a lottery team to 50 win prime Lebron level player. Even though he’d be the second choice only to Lebron in a Game 7, the other factors that go into cause him to slip to 5.
James Harden offensively these last two regular seasons has been as close to perfection as you’ll see. It’s no exaggeration to say that he’s obliterating even the prime’s of Hall of Famer’s like Kobe Bryant. It’s a dominance we’ve only seen by Lebron and Steph post Jordan. He deserves legit consideration for best current player in the world right now.
That level of play is great, but the 82 games of the regular season don’t matter as much as the games that start in April. While the other guys in this tier either maintain their regular season play, or take it up another notch, we now probably have a large enough sample size to say Harden simply does not. I am not convinced that this is necessarily chronic, and maybe having Westbrook along side to share more of the regular season load will mean better playoff performances, but until then he’s staying at 4.
Steph Curry is assuredly several spots lower in the eyes of conventional wisdom than he is here. He’s a guy that didn’t even make ESPN’s NBA Rank top 5 this year (ridiculous!!!) and is on the wrong side of 30. I’m here to tell you conventional wisdom is wrong.
One of the issues is that too often Steph gets tied to one of his own teammates. It’s not that he’s just one of the splashbrothers, he’s the greatest shooter ever. Klay is just a great one. I’ve seen it argued that Durant was just as good or important to the Warriors success the last 3 years. Really? The Warriors were 25-24 in games without Curry during the Durant years. Without Durant but with Curry? They were 33-4 the last 3 years including the playoffs until they ran into an absolute buzz-saw in the Raptors in last years finals. That’s a prime top 25 player all time and another Hall of Famer that Steph is just purely better than.
The age is a scary factor, but I’d bet on Steph aging particularly well. The last skill to deteriorate with age tends to be shooting, and nobody has ever done it on the level of #30. Kyle Korver is still finding work at 38. Ray Allen and Reggie Miller played at relatively high levels in their late 30’s. Steve Nash was a plus starter at age 38 or 39. Steph is the turbocharged version of him! It should come as no surprise if he’s still playing at an all-star level 5 years from now.
And people still don’t give credit for just how good he currently is. If you just looked at the box scores you would figure that he’s probably something of a fringe top 5 player in the league. However, a lot of that has to do with him deferring to guys (most notably KD and Boogie Cousins) to help integrate them into the Warrior’s offense and culture. I don’t know of another superstar who is as frustrating to watch due to his level of unselfishness. While this drives me nuts as fan at times, it’s a great thing to have for my franchise, especially when the time will come a half decade from now to have Steph pass the baton to whoever is next like Tim Duncan did in San Antonio. No wonder his coach is always comparing the two.
Add it all up and you have a guy who might be the best regular season player in the NBA, who doesn’t see his performance waver in the playoffs, who’s skillset should allow him to age particularly gracefully, and might be the best leader in the sport. MAYBE, I have Steph a spot or 2 too high, but that a lot of people wouldn’t have him in their top five is simply wrong.
The Clear #1
1. Giannis Antonokumpbo
The Greek Freak was an easy number one and it’s near impossible to come up with an argument for anyone else. He won the MVP last year, and is easily the youngest of the guys who are in consideration for best player in the league right now. Furthermore, of all those superstars he’s the one that feel as though he still has a ways to go to hit his full potential. If (and I’ll argue when) Giannis becomes an average 3 point shooter or close to it there will be nothing he can’t do. He can already get to the rim and finish at a level we’ve only seen Hall of Fame Center’s like Shaq do, only he also can credibly play point guard at the same time. He’s capable of both switching onto anybody and protect the paint an all NBA defense level. We’ve never witnessed anyone who can fluctuate roles so seamlessly and dominate in so many different ways on both sides of the ball.
The only hesitation one might have is with his playoff performance last year. This shouldn’t be that big of a concern as: 1. His play wasn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination and 2. That was his first deep run. Now that he’s gotten a taste of it, I fully expect him to be ready for the challenges of playoff basketball and understand the adjustments he’ll have to make.
The only question is how do you decide to build your team afterwards? Do you go with younger guys and play more of a long game or do you target win now veterans and get the ring ASAP? How do you build your defense? Do you want Giannis to be your main rim protector or do you want him more on the perimeter? There are similar questions offensively. Do you target at least one guy who needs the ball in his hands a lot or do you just go all out on 3 point shooting and maybe a couple decent secondary ball handlers like Middleton and Brogdon did with Milwaukee.
Those questions are all difficult, but the brilliance of Giannis is so profound it proves how incredible he is that you can even ask them.
Bulls NBA HQ 