rank the best players drafted post 2007

[falcolombardi]

going by better at prime here rather than career here, a list of guys either at the tail end of their primes (dursnt curry, harden) or the start of them (luka, tatum) or in the middle of it (embiid, giannis, jokic)

Durant (2007)
curry (2009)
harden (2009)
kawhi (2011)
davis (2012)
giannis (2013)
embiid (2014)
jokic (2015)
Tatum (2017)
luka (2018)

rank these 10 guys at their best (so far) by best peak and as a bonus, how high do you expect luka and tatum to end up?

[Peregrine01]

If it's prime:

Curry
Giannis
Jokic
KD
Harden
Kawhi
Luka
Tatum
Embiid
AD

I would've had Kawhi higher had he not missed so many games in his prime (2017-2019)

[jalengreen]

in terms of peak id probably go something like

giannis
jokic
curry
harden
kd
kawhi
ad
embiid
tatum
luka

[HeartBreakKid]

going by better at prime here rather than career here, a list of guys either at the tail end of their primes (dursnt curry, harden) or the start of them (luka, tatum) or in the middle of it (embiid, giannis, jokic)

Durant (2007)
curry (2009)
harden (2009)
kawhi (2011)
davis (2012)
giannis (2013)
embiid (2014)
jokic (2015)
Tatum (2017)
luka (2018)

rank these 10 guys at their best (so far) by best peak and as a bonus, how high do you expect luka and tatum to end up?

Jeez....this is extra difficult since we're still so early in the psot season but


1) Nikola Jokic

Best offensive player here I think, and his defense isn't too shabby anymore. Considering how hard of a defense he went against this year, he still had a pretty decent series - I do think if he had a star teammate or 2 his dominance would be more apparent.

2) Kawhi Leonard
3) Steph Curry
4) Kevin Durant

Next are some more scoring beasts. Kawhi's scoring is the most consistent in the post season, so I think he might be the best. Curry and Durant can both be shaky, but Curry makes his teammates better so I'll give him the edge.

5) Joel Embiid
6) Giannis
7) Anthony Davis



These guys don't have as long of a history of big time scoring, though they might change my mind this playoff run (not so much Harden). Embiid is not as consistent of a defender as Giannis, but I do think he is comfortably a better scorer, they have close stats but I think Embiid's versatility makes the gap bigger than it seems. Davis is a great finisher, but doesn't create anywhere near on the level as the other two - though I think he is the best defender. His offensive is not that scalable.


8) James Harden
9) Luka Doncic
10) Jayson Tatum

These guys lack the two way play, and their scoring isn't necessarily better. Harden has a huge sample size of success, so I put him over Luka, and I think at Harden's best he might have been a better defender as well. They're a bit of a toss up, though Harden has prettier numbers for sure.

I'll put Tatum last. He is probably better than his numbers suggest, as his first half stats are much worse than his second half in 2022. It's possible he has already ascended, but as of now, 1 round into the playoffs - I haven't seen enough to definitively put him over Luka and Harden. Though the rate he is going at, he is looking like an interesting two way threat.



My guess is Tatum continues to get better, and gets put ahead of Anthony Davis on my list. I'm not sure if he'll ever be mega efficient so I won't put him up there with Durant and Kawhi (yet), but he can create his shot from anywhere, is pretty good without the ball for a volume scorer, and is a good defender. He plays the game the right way but also knows how to take over, that seems like some realistic upside that Anthony Davis doesn't have on a consistent level.

As for Luka...maybe a bit better than Tatum. His ball handling ability gives him a lot of upside. At such a young age he'll probably have some crazy playoff runs. I'd say he ends up better than Giannis, but I am not positive about Embiid. He's so young though sky is kind of the limit for him, though I don't think he'll be as good as Jokic - thats the only guy I'll give a hard no on.

[Statlanta]

curry
durant
harden
leonard
antetokoumpo
davis
Jokic
embiid
doncic
tatum