ESPN Rankings 3-10 Are Surprisingly Not Horrible

[Asif16]

LOL at LeBron ahead of Giannis in 2019-20. Maybe 2 years ago

Giannis is easier to stop with a good game plan.

LeBron on the other hand can still expose you, doesnt matter how much you game plan due to his IQ and better shooting (than giannis).

Oh so it's easy for a team to have a carousel of multiple lengthy, athletic, and high IQ DPOY veterans? My mistake

Not sure where you're getting at. You can make the same case for Lebron. Are you denying that Lebron has a higher IQ and better shooting than Giannis?

In a playoff game (espcially in the last 5 inutes), I guarantee you 99% of players and fans are gonna be more scared of Lebron than Giannis.

[GiannisAnte34]

Giannis is easier to stop with a good game plan.

LeBron on the other hand can still expose you, doesnt matter how much you game plan due to his IQ and better shooting (than giannis).

Oh so it's easy for a team to have a carousel of multiple lengthy, athletic, and high IQ DPOY veterans? My mistake

Not sure where you're getting at. You can make the same case for Lebron. Are you denying that Lebron has a higher IQ and better shooting than Giannis?

In a playoff game (espcially in the last 5 inutes), I guarantee you 99% of players and fans are gonna be more scared of Lebron than Giannis.

I guarantee that you are delusional and living in the past. Giannis is a better player than LeBron and it really isn't even an argument at this point

[Asif16]

Oh so it's easy for a team to have a carousel of multiple lengthy, athletic, and high IQ DPOY veterans? My mistake

Not sure where you're getting at. You can make the same case for Lebron. Are you denying that Lebron has a higher IQ and better shooting than Giannis?

In a playoff game (espcially in the last 5 inutes), I guarantee you 99% of players and fans are gonna be more scared of Lebron than Giannis.

I guarantee that you are delusional and living in the past. Giannis is a better player than LeBron and it really isn't even an argument at this point

Stats wise in the regular season, yes...Giannis is the better player.

But in the playoffs, LeBron is much more intimidating than Giannis, yes even now

[BallerTalk]

...LeBron's probably ranked too high.

[GiannisAnte34]

Not sure where you're getting at. You can make the same case for Lebron. Are you denying that Lebron has a higher IQ and better shooting than Giannis?

In a playoff game (espcially in the last 5 inutes), I guarantee you 99% of players and fans are gonna be more scared of Lebron than Giannis.

I guarantee that you are delusional and living in the past. Giannis is a better player than LeBron and it really isn't even an argument at this point

Stats wise in the regular season, yes...Giannis is the better player.

But in the playoffs, LeBron is much more intimidating than Giannis, yes even now

Yes LeBron sure was a menace when he activated playoff mode and.... oh wait he sat on the couch and made tacos

LeBron is a matador on defense, ball hawks rebounds from his teammates, and has actually increased his drives to the basket (relying more on athleticism with age rather than adapting to refine his game like other All Time greats have done)

[GeorgeMarcus]

“Battling illness last spring and having illness questioned, Embiid saw his production on both ends of the court decrease in the playoffs”


Unreal display of ignorance. This trumps the Winslow PG debacle in my book

Not at all Winslow played PG for half a season. Embiid saw his numbers decrease so boxscore watchers would think he played worse on both ends if they don't watch games. Even in the boxscore Winslow was the PG though. The best part was them having to report that the comments confused Miami because he was ALREADY the PG a day after roasting him for saying he wanted to be the PG.

Not watching the Heat during the regular season is different than not watching a big stage playoff series like the Raps/Sixers

[Adam Stern]

Harden is better than Curry. And I'm one of Harden's biggest detractors.

Then the Rockets better finish well ahead of the Warriors this year.

Didn't they already do that even when KD was on the Warriors?

[Adam Stern]

How the hell does AD still get ranked so high when all he does is miss the PO year after year?

I know he's talented as hell but he's done so very little I don't get why he's ranked so high either.

[gorz]

The only thing espn got right is AD is a top 5 player. Hes not better than curry yet. Curry might have a mvp season.


As of now

1. Kawhi
2. Curry
3. Giannis
4. Harden
5. LeBron
6. AD


With projection

1. Curry
2. Kawhi
3. AD
4. Giannis
5. Harden
6. LeBron

[babyjax13]

ESPN really needs to hire experts in their given sports, rather than hoping people can specialize in all of it. A lot of this reads like if I were to make a ranking of the top 25 football players - some of them might be right - but it would mostly be a mess. Per the top 25 players or so, I'd go with a ranking like this (but understand that there would be some disagreement):

Possible MVP tier:
1. James Harden
2. Kawhi Leonard
3. Kevin Durant (if healthy)
4. LeBron James
5. Steph Curry
6. Giannis (although I expect him to rise as he develops some more skill)
7. Anthony Davis
8. Nikola Jokic

Possible 1st team all-NBA tier
9. Joel Embiid
10. Rudy Gobert
11. Paul George
12. Victor Oladipo (if healthy)
13. Damien Lillard
14. Karl Anthony-Towns
15. Jimmy Butler
16. Russell Westbrook

Possible 2nd team all-NBA tier
17. Jrue Holiday
18. Kyrie Irving
19. Kemba Walker
20. Blake Griffin
21. Luka Doncic
22. Ben Simmons
23. Pascal Siakam
24. Chris Paul
25. Draymond Green

[CS707]

Harden is better than Curry. And I'm one of Harden's biggest detractors.

Then the Rockets better finish well ahead of the Warriors this year.

Didn't they already do that even when KD was on the Warriors?

Nope

[Dacost]

I don't like Steph his Defense is awful and has other issues but he has to be top 3 on all list period even the biggest Curry hater on the world would have to admit that.

[stoo]

Spoiler:

ESPN really needs to hire experts in their given sports, rather than hoping people can specialize in all of it. A lot of this reads like if I were to make a ranking of the top 25 football players - some of them might be right - but it would mostly be a mess. Per the top 25 players or so, I'd go with a ranking like this (but understand that there would be some disagreement):

Possible MVP tier:
1. James Harden
2. Kawhi Leonard
3. Kevin Durant (if healthy)
4. LeBron James
5. Steph Curry
6. Giannis (although I expect him to rise as he develops some more skill)
7. Anthony Davis
8. Nikola Jokic

Possible 1st team all-NBA tier
9. Joel Embiid
10. Rudy Gobert
11. Paul George
12. Victor Oladipo (if healthy)
13. Damien Lillard
14. Karl Anthony-Towns
15. Jimmy Butler
16. Russell Westbrook

Possible 2nd team all-NBA tier
17. Jrue Holiday
18. Kyrie Irving
19. Kemba Walker
20. Blake Griffin
21. Luka Doncic
22. Ben Simmons
23. Pascal Siakam
24. Chris Paul
25. Draymond Green

Tiers are so much better way to classify players

[E-Balla]

“Battling illness last spring and having illness questioned, Embiid saw his production on both ends of the court decrease in the playoffs”


Unreal display of ignorance. This trumps the Winslow PG debacle in my book

Not at all Winslow played PG for half a season. Embiid saw his numbers decrease so boxscore watchers would think he played worse on both ends if they don't watch games. Even in the boxscore Winslow was the PG though. The best part was them having to report that the comments confused Miami because he was ALREADY the PG a day after roasting him for saying he wanted to be the PG.

Not watching the Heat during the regular season is different than not watching a big stage playoff series like the Raps/Sixers

Tons of people watch the games half paying attention and don't notice defense outside of if a player is really bad or getting a lot of steals and blocks.

Meanwhile Winslow was the starting PG in Miami half of last season. She reported on it when he was named starting PG! There's no excuse for that.

[Adam Stern]

Then the Rockets better finish well ahead of the Warriors this year.

Didn't they already do that even when KD was on the Warriors?

Nope

I'm pretty sure Houston had the best record in the NBA season before last and were like 5 or 6 whole games ahead of the Warriors.

[cpower]

Harden over Curry does losing count for more

[GeorgeMarcus]

Not at all Winslow played PG for half a season. Embiid saw his numbers decrease so boxscore watchers would think he played worse on both ends if they don't watch games. Even in the boxscore Winslow was the PG though. The best part was them having to report that the comments confused Miami because he was ALREADY the PG a day after roasting him for saying he wanted to be the PG.

Not watching the Heat during the regular season is different than not watching a big stage playoff series like the Raps/Sixers

Tons of people watch the games half paying attention and don't notice defense outside of if a player is really bad or getting a lot of steals and blocks.

Meanwhile Winslow was the starting PG in Miami half of last season. She reported on it when he was named starting PG! There's no excuse for that.

Lol alright that’s fair. Both are pretty bad

[Harry Garris]

Dame at 9 and Mccolum at 13.

You would think they could have at least put some sort of a fight against the Warriors with such a loaded back court.

Essentially, what I'm trying to say is that Dame probably should be 13 while Mccolum shoudl've been way lower

They did put up a fight, they played 3 very close and competitive games that came down to the wire against a significantly more talented Warriors team. Even with KD out the Warriors had the first, third, and fourth best players in that series.

I love CJ but he isn't a top 20 player.

[ReasonablySober]

Nope no way you can have AD over Curry.

Not a GSW fan but Curry is still in his prime and the 2nd best PG of all time. He's number 3 for me.

1. LBJ (until proven otherwise)
2. Kawhi
3. Curry
4. Harden
5. Giannis
6. AD
and then Jokic - Embiid - Dame - PG13 I agree with

What would constitute proof for you? Like, missing the playoffs kind of proof? Losing in the finals again kind of proof?

[Mickey8]

Lillard >> Jokic

Yeah right, Mccolum bailed him out big time in the play offs last season.