RealGM

SI.com wrote: 21. KEVIN LOVE
PF, Minnesota Timberwolves
Age: 22
2010-11 Stats: 20.2 PPG, 47.0 FG%, 41.7, 3PT%, 85.0 FT%, 15.2 RPG, 2.5 APG

I can’t wait for Love to make this ranking look ridiculous. But at this point on the list, when comparing the league’s top players, you begin to zero in on perceived weaknesses. Love has two right now, and that’s enough to knock the guy who ranked fourth in PER (24.39) down to No. 21.

Love’s first weakness: He’s still learning all the non-rebounding elements of defense, all the complicated help-and-recover stuff that separates the best defenders and defensive teams from the rest. This was a team-wide issue with the Timberwolves, and Love was far from the worst offender. But he was part of the problem, as any young big man would be.

Rebounding is part of the solution, and Love does that better than anyone. He does it so well, in fact, that you’ll occasionally find him prepping to box out a shooter rather than running at that shooter with his hands up, trying to bother the actual shot. That’s fine in some cases, but Love will have to find the right balance between eating rebounds and doing the other things that make a great defender.

Love’s second weakness: He can’t create his own shot consistently. He’s a decent post-up threat against the right defender, but he shot just 29 percent in isolations, according to Synergy, and he’s just not quite ready to be a go-to guy on a team that desperately needs someone other than Michael Beasley to be a go-to guy.

Love works his butt off, and he’s going to get better at these things. That’s what players do with experience, and every big man needs a season or two (or six) to learn how best to defend five fast-moving players darting around the court. And when that improvement comes, Love is going to rank among the top 10 players in the league for a long time. A big man who can rebound like this and shoot 40 percent from three-point range in high volumes makes him a threat both in the pick-and-pop and trailing the fast break. That player has never existed … until now.

25. Al Horford
24. Nene
23. Tim Duncan
22. Chris Bosh
21. Kevin Love
20. Carmelo Anthony
19. Amar’e Stoudemire
18. Steve Nash
17. Kevin Garnett
16. Manu Ginobili
15. Paul Pierce
14. Blake Griffin
13 .Zach Randolph
12. Russell Westbrook
11. LaMarcus Aldridge
10. Pau Gasol
9. Derrick Rose
8. Kevin Durant
7. Deron Williams
6. Chris Paul
5. Kobe Bryant
4. Dirk Nowitzki
3. Dwyane Wade
2. Dwight Howard
1. LeBron James

moss_is_1 wrote:Surprisingly that list is really good. I'd probably switch Wade and Howard, and knock Blake Griffin down a couple spots, but nothing too big to argue about.

cpfsf wrote:The one thing that stood out for me is Carmelo Anthony's rank. I'm going off on a little rant here, but has anyone noticed a lot of Anthony criticism lately? He's been in the same guy for 8 years and now it's become kind of the cool thing to bash him. I have no issue at all with him being ranked at #20, and I don't believe for a second that he's a top 15 player. My complaint is that a lot of people are making it seem like they made some shocking discovery. I'm seeing a lot of articles that he's overrated, and my one issue with that is it's hard to get rid of that overrated label. Just ask Rubio.

Maybe Anthonys partially at fault for choosing the team he wanted to be traded to.

bluethunder0005 wrote:

cpfsf wrote:The one thing that stood out for me is Carmelo Anthony's rank. I'm going off on a little rant here, but has anyone noticed a lot of Anthony criticism lately? He's been in the same guy for 8 years and now it's become kind of the cool thing to bash him. I have no issue at all with him being ranked at #20, and I don't believe for a second that he's a top 15 player. My complaint is that a lot of people are making it seem like they made some shocking discovery. I'm seeing a lot of articles that he's overrated, and my one issue with that is it's hard to get rid of that overrated label. Just ask Rubio.

Maybe Anthonys partially at fault for choosing the team he wanted to be traded to.

I think Melo has just gotten a lot of unwarranted hate going against him. Him and Durant are virtually the same player except Melo is still a bit better in my opinion. I don't know if it's his attitude or what but I see lists like these all the time and Durant is always really high and Melo is several spots lower.

thechrispalmerchris palmer wrote: T-Wolves had the worst record in the league but only have two players in the bottom 100. Encouraging. #NBArank

shangrila wrote:Melo had a 108 defensive rating this year, Durant had a 107, so they're at least similar in that respect.

Westbrook and Aldridge are ridiculously overrated here.

shrink wrote:Very Slow ESPN Countdown so far:

395 Nikola Pekovic

364 Wayne Ellington

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/68655 ... gs-351-400

thechrispalmerchris palmer wrote: T-Wolves had the worst record in the league but only have two players in the bottom 100. Encouraging. #NBArank

moss_is_1 wrote:

shangrila wrote:Melo had a 108 defensive rating this year, Durant had a 107, so they're at least similar in that respect.

Westbrook and Aldridge are ridiculously overrated here.

Aldridge is a beast...he was carying PDX with everyone down. Plus he can play both PF/C at a high level...I'd like to see him up his rebounding, otherwise I think he's the 2nd/3rd best PF, depending what Gasol is doing.

moss_is_1 wrote:

shangrila wrote:Melo had a 108 defensive rating this year, Durant had a 107, so they're at least similar in that respect.

Westbrook and Aldridge are ridiculously overrated here.

Aldridge is a beast...he was carying PDX with everyone down. Plus he can play both PF/C at a high level...I'd like to see him up his rebounding, otherwise I think he's the 2nd/3rd best PF, depending what Gasol is doing.