RealGM

Sorry for being late - working today.

I am carrying the torch for Filthadelphia's annual Top 25 Player poll this offseason.

Your favorite offseason debate is back by popular demand!
Thanks to everyone who voted last go around I'm excited to see where the 3rd annual edition ends up.

Here are the Rules:
-Vote ONE player per poll. You'll be able to change your vote just like last year for those indecisive folks.
-The criteria of ranking the players is YOUR OWN. The whole point of bringing this to the GB is to attract the widest amount of votes/perspectives on the game as possible to form a true consensus. Some people value shooting over defense, team success over individual prowess etc. I want to bake all that into this poll set no matter how chaotic.
-Each poll a player will win and then be taken out of the field. There will be 25 polls in all.
-There are only 10 possible poll options so I will start with 7 of the 10 guys who were voted into the Top 10 last year (Kawhi, Giannis, LeBron, Curry, Harden, AD, and Jokic. Then I will make a slight adjustment by removing Embiid, Lillard, and PG and replacing them with Luka, Jimmy Butler, and KD, who I think have a higher chance of someone voting them #1. Of course, you can still nominate them to show up on the next poll.
-As each poll commences I ask you to COMMENT IN THE THREAD your vote for who should be added in the next poll. There will be a large list of players yet to be added to the field below that you can look over to make your vote. I will tally up the votes in the comments at the end of each poll and add the winner accordingly. For example, if you want Bryn Forbes added in the next poll just comment "Nominate: Bryn Forbes"
-If a poll is overwhelmingly skewed towards one guy I will try, time willing, to edit it early and move on to the next one.
-If there is a tie in the poll. There will be a run-off poll created with just the tying parties to determine a winner. The losers of the runoff will then be added back into the field of 10 for the next poll.
-Feel free to ask any questions via pm or comment
-Feel Free to comment on your reasoning for a pick and why.

THANKS AGAIN TO EVERYONE FOR PARTICIPATING!!!!

Winner of Poll #4: Kawhi Leonard (LAC) - 34%
Added to Poll: Karl-Anthony Towns (MIN)

RealGM Top 25 Players 2020-21:
1)LeBron James (LAL) - 53%
2)Giannis Antetokounmpo (MIL) - 47%
3)Luka Doncic (DAL) - 37%
4)Kawhi Leonard (LAC) - 34%

Yet To Be Added: (If someone is not here that you want here comment THAT and I will add them)
Trae Young (ATL)
John Collins (ATL)
Danilo Gallinari (OKC)
Kemba Walker (BOS)
Jaylen Brown (BOS)
Kyrie Irving (BKN)
Gordon Hayward (CHA)
Devonte' Graham (CHA)
Zach Lavine (CHI)
Kevin Love (CLE)
Andre Drummond (CLE)
Collin Sexton (CLE)
Kristaps Porzingis (DAL)
Jamal Murray(DEN)
Blake Griffin (DET)
Draymond Green (GSW)
Russell Westbrook (HOU)
Myles Turner (IND)
Victor Oladipo (IND)
Domantas Sabonis (IND)
Paul George (LAC)
Montrezl Harrell (LAL)
Ja Morant (MEM)
Jaren Jackson Jr. (MEM)
Bam Adebayo (MIA)
Khris Middleton (MIL)
Jrue Holiday (MIL)
D'Angelo Russell (MIN)
Anthony Edwards (MIN)
Zion Williamson (NOP)
Brandon Ingram (NOP)
R.J. Barrett (NYK)
Nikola Vucevic (ORL)
Ben Simmons (PHI)
Devin Booker (PHX)
Chris Paul (PHX)
DeAndre Ayton (PHX)
Jusuf Nurkic (POR)
CJ McCollum (POR)
De'Aaron Fox (SAC)
LaMarcus Aldridge (SAS)
Demar DeRozan (SAS)
Pascal Siakam (TOR)
Fred VanVleet (TOR)
Kyle Lowry (TOR)
Rudy Gobert (UTA)
Donovan Mitchell (UTA)
Bradley Beal (WAS)
John Wall (WAS)

I wrote out my explanation in the last thread so I'll just be concise here with my own picks:
Vote: Jimmy Butler
Nominate: Chris Paul

V: Harden
N: Gobert

Hard to place KD after his year off, but this is where he'd usually go. Then Harden, then Jokic, then Steph, then AD/Embiid, then Dame, then Butler.

Nominate Gobert.

With Steph and Durant coming off injuries, this has to be Harden. He has done much better carrying teams as the man than AD has.

V: Curry
N: Booker

IMO This 6/7 first picks has to be about the players capable of being the alpha on a contendor and that's not AD.

I was under the impression that Steph Curry was an all-time great. He's healthy, so by extension he should be back to being the top 5 player he was, right?

Vote - Stephen Curry

Nominate - Paul George

V Harden

N George

Voted Davis

Nominate Gobert

Vote Harden
Nominate George

Vote: Harden
Nominate: Chris Paul

mercgold3 wrote:V: Curry
N: Booker

IMO This 6/7 first picks has to be about the players capable of being the alpha on a contendor and that's not AD.

I haven't voted AD yet, but I think that current AD wins titles on either of the teams that Kawhi won with as the principle scoring threat. Different teams need different things. AD was always very good in the playoffs previously. He just can't control the ball like a guard/ball-handling wing can, so he needs to play a different role than a James/Luka/Harden style player, but he's similar to Kawhi in that he can provide a great first option scoring punch while playing excellent defense.

Steph curry might fall out of the top 6 or 7 when he is in fact easily the second best right now. Reminder to never take this board seriously... Colin Cowherd could come up with better rankings.

Roco14 wrote:Steph curry might fall out of the top 6 or 7 when he is in fact easily the second best right now. Reminder to never take this board seriously... Colin Cowherd could come up with better rankings.

No one knows what Steph is going to be this year. He'll be 33 this season, he played only five games last year (in which he didn't look good at all), then either had a season ending hand injury or his team didn't think it was worth playing him after their terrible start. Now Klay is out, so teams can key on him even more on the perimeter. I expect him to be good, but I don't think it's very shocking at all that people aren't considering him "easily the second best" right now.

Roco14 wrote:Steph curry might fall out of the top 6 or 7 when he is in fact easily the second best right now. Reminder to never take this board seriously... Colin Cowherd could come up with better rankings.

So you haven't seen Curry play in over a year and say that he is EASILY the 2nd best player in the league? But then think that other people should’t be taken seriously. Are you being ironic?

He wasn’t even the 2nd best player in the league 2 years ago... but now he is EASILY.

leolozon wrote:

Roco14 wrote:Steph curry might fall out of the top 6 or 7 when he is in fact easily the second best right now. Reminder to never take this board seriously... Colin Cowherd could come up with better rankings.

Someone who hasn’t seen Curry play in over a year saying that he is EASILY the 2nd best player in the league... thinks that other people should’t be taken seriously. Are you being ironic?

He wasn’t even the 2nd best player in the league 2 years ago... but now he is EASILY.

Assuming he returns to his old form which is quite likely I think... Yes he is the second best. And he was the second best even two years ago but obviously he took a huge step back for umm.. I don't know - - just one of the 5 greatest scorers to ever grace this planet. Not really a huge deal.

This poll is invalid. Top 4 are already messed up.

Voted AD

Nominate Ben Simmons

Durant @ 85-90% of what he was is still top 5 imo.

curry is extremely underrated at this point.