What do y'all think of The Ringer's top 20 list?

[NatP4]

Man, how does Karl Anthony-Towns not make this list? Hadn't noticed he was left off until you mentioned it. He'd be in my 10, especially since this is a list of players you'd pick to make a championship run going forward.

It was for this year only. Not for the rest of their careers. Simmons cited Town's poor defense. That being said, I would have him somewhere at the level of Nikola Jokic.

Towns is literally the worst defender in the NBA at the power forward position. I wouldn’t even consider him.

[Kanyewest]

Man, how does Karl Anthony-Towns not make this list? Hadn't noticed he was left off until you mentioned it. He'd be in my 10, especially since this is a list of players you'd pick to make a championship run going forward.

It was for this year only. Not for the rest of their careers. Simmons cited Town's poor defense. That being said, I would have him somewhere at the level of Nikola Jokic.

Towns is literally the worst defender in the NBA at the power forward position. I wouldn’t even consider him.

You may be right. For some reason, I though Jokic's defense was just as bad, but the scouting reports and numbers indicate otherwise.

[nate33]

It was for this year only. Not for the rest of their careers. Simmons cited Town's poor defense. That being said, I would have him somewhere at the level of Nikola Jokic.

Towns is literally the worst defender in the NBA at the power forward position. I wouldn’t even consider him.

You may be right. For some reason, I though Jokic's defense was just as bad, but the scouting reports and numbers indicate otherwise.

Yeah, Jokic was pretty bad defensively last year and he was one of the first guys I was going to question on the list. But then I looked up the defensive numbers this year and Jokic actually looks somewhat impressive defensively. Jokic is second in the league in defensive RPM. He has the best DRtg on his team, with a respectable 102. He ranks 5th in the league in defensive rebound percentage. He doesn't block a lot of shots but he averages 1.7 steals per 36 minutes which is really good for a big man. Overall, the team is a middle-of-the road defensive team (ranked 18th) so he can't be all that bad.

[stilldropin20]

1. LeBron James
2. Kevin Durant
3. James Harden
4. Giannis Antetokounmpo
5. Kawhi Leonard
6. Stephen Curry
7. Anthony Davis
8. Russell Westbrook
9. Kyrie Irving
10. Boogie Cousins
11. Draymond Green
12. Klay Thompson
13. Kristaps Porzingis
14. Ben Simmons
15. Blake Griffin
16. Joel Embiid
17. Paul George
18. Marc Gasol
19. Nikola Jokic
20. Chris Paul

typical list with westbrook and harden too high. as always. both way over rated.

steph and kawhi too low. lebron too high.
klay too high
paul, blake, too high-neither top 20. cousins too high but might finally be at least worthy of regular season praise.

CJ mccollum, towns dipo, and beal deserve a look over or honorable mentions. blake and paul should be off the list.

Man, how does Karl Anthony-Towns not make this list? Hadn't noticed he was left off until you mentioned it. He'd be in my 10, especially since this is a list of players you'd pick to make a championship run going forward.

the argument i hear is mostly about his defense. and your 5 must be able to defend. I assume he will get there defensively under thibs with jimmy and Taj to mentor. so like you, i def got him in my top 20.

[stilldropin20]

1. LeBron James
2. Kevin Durant
3. James Harden
4. Giannis Antetokounmpo
5. Kawhi Leonard
6. Stephen Curry
7. Anthony Davis
8. Russell Westbrook
9. Kyrie Irving
10. Boogie Cousins
11. Draymond Green
12. Klay Thompson
13. Kristaps Porzingis
14. Ben Simmons
15. Blake Griffin
16. Joel Embiid
17. Paul George
18. Marc Gasol
19. Nikola Jokic
20. Chris Paul

typical list with westbrook and harden too high. as always. both way over rated.

steph and kawhi too low. lebron too high.
klay too high
paul, blake, too high-neither top 20. cousins too high but might finally be at least worthy of regular season praise.

Good post. I agree with almost all of it, except Harden. That guy is legit. He's the best first-option offensive player in the league. He is almost unguardable. He can single-handily make an offense great. The guy is averaging 31.5 points on a TS% of .627 while also dishing out 10 assists. And his team ranks second in offensive rating behind only Golden State.

I'd definitely put Beal, Lowry or Lillard at 20th ahead of Chris Paul. Also, while Simmons and Embiid are exciting young players, let's not overstate how good they are right now. Sure, they're two of the top prospects going forward, but if I need to win a game tomorrow, I don't take Simmons over Nikola Jokic or Marc Gasol just yet. If Philly really had two of the top 16 players in the league right now, they'd have more than 8 wins.

only complaint on harden is the usage. If that's your offense, and he has abad series? You are going home. which is exactly what happened last year.

It takes a lessor ego and smarter coach as we see in GS to get guys with harden level talent to be less...do less...with legacies and bigly money on the line...to do less...pass more...move more off ball. and spread the love around.

So although I agree with you on talent. and the same goes for lebron obviously. The smarter play is to get your superstars off ball more and elevate the play of your role players. It actually makes the team better, open more lanes, and keeps the defense guessing more. which is why GSW are so good.

As for Simmons...wow. For the old timers, we've seen this kind of player only once before. magic Johnson. And Simmons isn't as good as magic. The kids can get a good feel for how dominant magic was while always passing the ball and looking for others.

Simmons has the potential to be the best player in the game by the end of this year imo. year 2 or 3 from now at the latest.

[dangermouse]

Kyrie at 9 is criminal. He did nothing until Lebron came along. Now he has Brad Stevens, who should win coach of the year and MVP if Celts stay #1 in the East. Theyve had a lot of luck but he has them playing out of their minds.

[dcstanley]

There isn't a considerable gap between Beal and Klay. I don't see how one is outside of the ten best players in the league and the other isn't considered a top twenty talent.

Lol someone ranked Wall over Westbrook in this thread.

The margin between Westbrook and Wall is small. Both aren't elite PGs.

[Shanghai Kid]

We are in this weird spot where Beal is becoming our best player..but all of the thought of this franchise is geared towards John Wall.

Beal is in this weird spot where even though he just turned 24, the world doesn't consider him 'young' talent.

It's really weird. If we go by November, Beal is basically 27ppg on 60% TS at 24 years old. But the world wants to see him as a 'borderline all-star' type of guy.

As a Wizards fan it's very surreal and weird.

[nate33]

We are in this weird spot where Beal is becoming our best player..but all of the thought of this franchise is geared towards John Wall.

Beal is in this weird spot where even though he just turned 24, the world doesn't consider him 'young' talent.

It's really weird. If we go by November, Beal is basically 27ppg on 60% TS at 24 years old. But the world wants to see him as a 'borderline all-star' type of guy.

As a Wizards fan it's very surreal and weird.

I don't think "the world" is wrong for no longer considering Beal a "young guy". This is his 6th year in the league. I don't think he has any dramatic improvement ahead of him. Any improvement we see is going to be incremental.

At this point he is consdered a borderline all-star type of guy because that's what he is. Kyrie Irving and Kemba Walker are certainly outplaying him. Demarr DeRozan in about equal in production. John Wall may or may not be better, but he certainly has been better for the past 5 years so he'll get the benefit of the doubt. So that puts Beal as the 4th or 5th best guard. Oladipo will get consideration. As will Lowry. But Beal should make it this year.

[Kanyewest]

We are in this weird spot where Beal is becoming our best player..but all of the thought of this franchise is geared towards John Wall.

Beal is in this weird spot where even though he just turned 24, the world doesn't consider him 'young' talent.

It's really weird. If we go by November, Beal is basically 27ppg on 60% TS at 24 years old. But the world wants to see him as a 'borderline all-star' type of guy.

As a Wizards fan it's very surreal and weird.

I don't think "the world" is wrong for no longer considering Beal a "young guy". This is his 6th year in the league. I don't think he has any dramatic improvement ahead of him. Any improvement we see is going to be incremental.

At this point he is consdered a borderline all-star type of guy because that's what he is. Kyrie Irving and Kemba Walker are certainly outplaying him. Demarr DeRozan in about equal in production. John Wall may or may not be better, but he certainly has been better for the past 5 years so he'll get the benefit of the doubt. So that puts Beal as the 4th or 5th best guard. Oladipo will get consideration. As will Lowry. But Beal should make it this year.

The DeRozan vs Beal debate has become more compelling over the past week or two with DeRozan's recent play earning him player of the week. Beal's turnovers lately (9 in the past two games) have hurt him a bit statistically. That being said DeRozan is going to start based on his reputation around the league, unless Beal really breaks out.

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