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ESPN is ranking (almost) every NBA player and counting them down on Twitter (@ESPNNBA), from No. 400 to No. 1.

Looks like it is going to be one update per week.

ESPN link


Firstly, if ESPN is ranking 400 players and there is 30 teams, this means 13.3 players per team. And any player in the top 150 is "starter quality."

So:
55. Никола Вучевић. This seems about correct to me. This places him at the middle #2 level. Given that he is a stat man that has not played winning ball, he will get ranked below the 5th best Center.


58. Victor Oladipo. Seems a little low to me in that the press usually considers him Orlando's best player. Still there are a lot of excellent SGs in the league and ranking at the low end of #2 seems fairly OK.

89. Tobias Harris. At the beginning of this poll, I suspect this is about where most Magic fans would have ranked Harris. Respectfully, his current contract is more about promise and expectation than the past. News media is more current oriented. I accept the #3 level of NBA starter. Notably, in the current NBA system, the SF slot is very, very deep. Harris is well placed to even be noticed by the press.


97. Elfrid Payton. Again this is for me spot on. Payton is marginal as a 3rd guy and easily would be a 4th for many teams.


129. Aaron Gordon. This places him around average 5th man. I agree that he is currently the lowest projected starter and thus this rating is spot on.


172. Channing Frye. About right. But the surroundings amaze me. Frye is just over: Jared Dudley, Josh McRoberts, Willie Cauley-Stein, Gerald Henderson, Alex Len, Anderson Varejão, and Evan Turner. But is behind: 171. Tyler Zeller. LOL.


183. Evan Fournier. Frankly I see this as spot on. A 183 ranking means a high 6th man over the league standard. For me this means Fournier is seen as a near elite 6th man.


229. C.J. Watson. Watson is the primary back-up for Orlando. As such one probably should consider him the 6th man. But to slot him as a 7th man is not widely off.


236. Mario Hezonja. I have little opinion here. I think Hezonja will rightly struggle to get minutes if the Magic is winning, and will get major minutes if the team sucks. Does that make hime a 7th man? And should we care either way?


281. Jason Smith. This seems exactly correct to me.


290. Shabazz Napier. As does this. Orlando might have the best 3rd string PG in the league!!!


306. Andrew Nicholson. He is slotted as a 10th man. That seems exactly correct. On any team in the NBA he is a deep bench player that is not in the typical rotation. If anything 306 is a touch high.


371. Dewayne Dedmon. He is slotted as a 12th man. Wow that is way, way to low. On many, but not all teams, he would be a rotational player. I would say he would average something like an 8th man on most teams. That ranks him somewhere in the 240 range.

Yea way too low on Dedmon, slightly too high on Nicholson. It'll be interesting to see how the rest shake out in terms of perception. Guessing rookies are included too?

I'm amazed just how far some of these guys have fallen, Raymond Felton, Andrea Bargnani and Carlos Boozer all in the late 300's. As for Nicolson, I believe he and Dedmon should probably be switching ranks. Dedmon doesn't have Nicholsons offensive talent, but he bests him in every other possible category easily.


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Eh, I doubt the voters actually know anything about dedmon. Probably the same for a lot of these guys in the bottom half of the rankings.

So never mind. ESPN is wonky and they actually have the previous year's rank in the article. At least DD went up I guess.

Eh-Nicholson was a first round pick. Dedmon was an undrafted free agent on a bad team. People don't know about him. We know he can play, but BSPN only sees player accomplishments.

bro Carlos Boozer dropped like 250 spots LOL

Max Power wrote:As for Nicolson, I believe he and Dedmon should probably be switching ranks.

Very sensible !


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Some funny ones today.

Kyle O'Quinn was worse in just about every metric compared to 13-14, but his ESPN Rank goes from 370 to 228. Apparently the New York media knows who he is now.

Hezonja at 236 is listed behind a couple guys drafted after him, like Bobby Portis and Stanley Johnson. Plus I'm sure there are others like Justise Winslow. I'm fine with the number -- it puts him as a 7th-8th man -- it's just funny how much these things are all about name recognition. It's almost like draft charts for NBA players.

CJ Watson at 229.

Yawn... just win.

I mean why do they even rank rookies? As of now they shouldn't have an NBA rank because they haven't played an NBA game.

tooler wrote: just win.

Post of the year!



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229. C.J. Watson. Watson is the primary back-up for Orlando. As such one probably should consider him the 6th man. But to slot him as a 7th man is not widely off.


236. Mario Hezonja. I have little opinion here. I think Hezonja will rightly struggle to get minutes if the Magic is winning, and will get major minutes if the team sucks. Does that make hime a 7th man? And should we care either way?


281. Jason Smith. This seems exactly correct to me.


290. Shabazz Napier. As does this. Orlando might have the best 3rd string PG in the league!!!

drsd wrote:229. C.J. Watson. Watson is the primary back-up for Orlando. As such one probably should consider him the 6th man. But to slot him as a 7th man is not widely off.

I think Evan Fournier is the 6th man. Watson is more of our 7th-8th man.

The Real Dalic wrote:

drsd wrote:229. C.J. Watson. Watson is the primary back-up for Orlando. As such one probably should consider him the 6th man. But to slot him as a 7th man is not widely off.

I think Evan Fournier is the 6th man. Watson is more of our 7th-8th man.

Yeah agreed, was going to post this exactly. I'll and1 you next time I'm not on mobile

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Ranking rookies is pretty dumb and just purely speculative. Rank them after a month, but ESPN is usually just shooting for hits, views and comments.

Pushpic wrote:Ranking rookies is pretty dumb and just purely speculative. Rank them after a month, but ESPN is usually just shooting for hits, views and comments.

Yup it's rather silly to rank rookies who haven't played a single NBA minute along with players with years of experience. That's just fantasy league right there.

2k rates hezonja as having a max potential of a 78 overall

Orlwillbeback wrote:2k rates hezonja as having a max potential of a 78 overall

2k is dumb.

Today's update (181-200) is amusing because Trey Burke is at 195. Count how many of the guys below him you'd rather have next season!

Heck, how many of the point guards below him would Utah rather have?

I'm ok with them ranking rookies, if they are consistent with the methodology. I can live with Kaminsky (188) being ahead of Hezonja, since he is likely more NBA ready. Porzingis(192) being ahead of Hezonja is absurd if you're basing it on projected impact next season though.