ESPN NBA top 100 for 2022

[Bank Shot]

A very reasonable top 5 after a ridiculous 6 to 100. I have no beef with the order. I'd probably put Steph over Embiid because I don't trust Embiid to stay healthy this year and Jokic over Giannis since he was a little better last year. I'm glad we're done (at least for now) overrating KD.

[shi-woo]

Curry's probably 2 because of the title and I also can't see them having the top 4 players in the league all be foreign/international. A lot of casuals/dumb talking heads would go nuts even though that is where we're eventually headed anyway. As Curry/KD/Lebron's careers wind down the talking heads and ESPN are putting all their hopes in Tatum, Morant, Booker, and Zion.

Yes, it is totally ridiculous for the FMVP to be considered one of the best players in the NBA.

No one's taking away his FMVP and title but you would have to agree that those other 4 players were either hurt(Embiid) or missing teammates(Giannis, Jokic) or literally by themselves(Luka) in the playoffs. Who were the players that Curry was missing that are equal to Murray/MPJ or Middleton? Is it so wrong to consider things in context? I personally don't think this version of Curry is better than any of those 4 players right now and if you look at the rankings that came out today it looks like the majority of experts at ESPN agree.

I came to this thread to respond to a certain comment, but after reading this one I have to respond to you instead.

It's so weird to bring up injuries and greatness, where if It wasn't for injuries, we might be talking about Steph being arguably the GOAT after winning 6 of the last 8, and maybe even 8 for 8 ...Steph would 100% have 6 rings if it wasn't for injuries or missing players...Or is missing Klay, Draymond, and KD not the same as missing Kris Middleton?

2x MVP- Enough said

3nd best dynasty in NBA history, with a chance to be #2, and #1 if you don't want to count Bill's Celtics. Magic played in the pee-wee west where teams were making the WCF with losing records, and LeBron is a fruit cup who had to keep switching teams/players to get an advantage every year. What Curry has done is literally unprecedented in modern sports history outside of Tom Brady.

Best offensive engine in pro sports, with defenses after 8 years of game planning, still having no clue what to do about him.

Sure that's looking at the past a lot, but Steph just came out and put an end to any doubts about him as a player, leader, and #1 guy THIS year.

I actually find it weird that he isn't #1, and honestly, if there wasn't such a biased towards height in the NBA, Steph would be getting the LeBron and Kobe treatment right now

For Christs sake, this community gave Kawhii the touch after one good year, and Steph literally did the same thing, but was more impressive.

Give the man his respect, it's been long overdue

[Hello Brooklyn]

Curry disrespect is getting ridiculous.

He was clearly the best player in the entire playoffs and didn't have that all great of a team.

I don't understand what exactly makes Giannis, Jokic or Luka a better player than him.

To me he should be 1st.

[CraftylikeaFox]

Curry disrespect is getting ridiculous.

He was clearly the best player in the entire playoffs and didn't have that all great of a team.

I don't understand what exactly makes Giannis, Jokic or Luka a better player than him.

To me he should be 1st.

Giannis is the best two way force in the league and it's not close.
Luka and Jokic carried bad teams to the playoffs. Nuggets and Mavs are low lottery teams without them.

Wiggins took a massive leap last year and was better than anyone on the Nuggets, Mavs, or Bucks.

Curry is a gamer though so he's justified wherever. All personal opinion.

[SeattleJazzFan]

Curry disrespect is getting ridiculous.

He was clearly the best player in the entire playoffs and didn't have that all great of a team.

I don't understand what exactly makes Giannis, Jokic or Luka a better player than him.

To me he should be 1st.

giannis plays offense and defense in addition to rebounding. luka and jokic score, rebound and assist at higher levels than curry. all three get picked on defensively, so that's a wash.

[DaFan334]

People here continuing to show that they can be slapped in the face with greatness and still be oblivious to it.

Is that why his team was in the play-in 2 years ago when they had injuries around him?

[shoresy69]

People here continuing to show that they can be slapped in the face with greatness and still be oblivious to it.

I know you are a big Curry advocat - rightfully so - and if we are talking about legacy he very well is ahead of all the other guys in the top5 with Antetokounmpo being a clear number two. But while he very well might have been the best player 4 or 5 seasons ago i just don’t think he is ahead of the top3 now.

I don't understand what Luka has done to be considered ahead of Curry. Neck and neck sure. Embiid ahead is comical. Jokic I kind of get and Giannis is obvious. Steph is always ranked lower by ESPN than he should be.

[DaFan334]

Curry disrespect is getting ridiculous.

He was clearly the best player in the entire playoffs and didn't have that all great of a team.

I don't understand what exactly makes Giannis, Jokic or Luka a better player than him.

To me he should be 1st.

Huh? He had 2 future Hall of Famers, another all-star and one of the hottest bench players in the league on that team. What do you mean he didn't have a great team around him?

[realball]

Curry disrespect is getting ridiculous.

He was clearly the best player in the entire playoffs and didn't have that all great of a team.

I don't understand what exactly makes Giannis, Jokic or Luka a better player than him.

To me he should be 1st.

Huh? He had 2 future Hall of Famers, another all-star and one of the hottest bench players in the league on that team. What do you mean he didn't have a great team around him?

His third best teammate made the All-Star team. Meanwhile Jokic's second-best player was Aaron Gordon. Don't know what this dude is smoking.

[Tomtolbert]

Curry disrespect is getting ridiculous.

He was clearly the best player in the entire playoffs and didn't have that all great of a team.

Curry was excellent in the playoffs, but he wasn't the clear cut best player. Jokic, Giannis, Butler, and Doncic were in the discussion too.

Giannis is clearly the best player. After that, I'd probably take Jokic, but can see arguments for others.

[shoresy69]

I think people oversell how good the Warriors roster is due to the payroll figure. Most of that comes from 1. Curry himself (45mm), 2. Taking on bad contracts in order to retain a salary slot at all (Wiggins 31mm), 3. Franchise cornerstones that aren't worth their contracts (Klay 37mm and Draymond 24mm), 4. Rookies that didn't even see much of the court (Wiseman/Kuminga/Moody 17mm combined), and 5. The massive luxury tax (170mm, almost as high all their 2021-22 salaries).

All that money and not a single player on the roster besides Curry is ranked inside ESPN's top 30. Heck, during the playoffs people here were regularly picking against the Warriors because their roster didn't have the amount of talent Memphis, Boston, or even Dallas had. Things have flipped fast after they actually won the title.

[jokeboy86]

People here continuing to show that they can be slapped in the face with greatness and still be oblivious to it.

I know you are a big Curry advocat - rightfully so - and if we are talking about legacy he very well is ahead of all the other guys in the top5 with Antetokounmpo being a clear number two. But while he very well might have been the best player 4 or 5 seasons ago i just don’t think he is ahead of the top3 now.

I don't understand what Luka has done to be considered ahead of Curry. Neck and neck sure. Embiid ahead is comical. Jokic I kind of get and Giannis is obvious. Steph is always ranked lower by ESPN than he should be.

I don't understand why its comical to suggest Embiid. He's was 2nd in MVP votes last year, suffered an orbital fracture in the playoffs and let's not forget only got to play not even 40 games with a Harden who either is declining or wasn't in shape last year. Embiid actually played more regular season games than Curry last year too.

[jokeboy86]

I think people oversell how good the Warriors roster is due to the payroll figure. Most of that comes from 1. Curry himself (45mm), 2. Taking on bad contracts in order to retain a salary slot at all (Wiggins 31mm), 3. Franchise cornerstones that aren't worth their contracts (Klay 37mm and Draymond 24mm), 4. Rookies that didn't even see much of the court (Wiseman/Kuminga/Moody 17mm combined), and 5. The massive luxury tax (170mm, almost as high all their 2021-22 salaries).

All that money and not a single player on the roster besides Curry is ranked inside ESPN's top 30. Heck, during the playoffs people here were regularly picking against the Warriors because their roster didn't have the amount of talent Memphis, Boston, or even Dallas had. Things have flipped fast after they actually won the title.

Boston I could agree with and before Ja went down I could see people picking Memphis over them too. But who on earth was seriously picking Dallas over GS last year in the playoffs?

[maxwellcu]

Curry's shooting this year was not good enough for him to be seriously considered better than any of G, J, or D, particularly given that his value is tied incredibly closely to shooting and shooting-adjacent intangibles ("gravity"). Put differently, if shooting is 99% of your game then you need to shoot better than Curry did this year in order to be considered better than either of the three aforementioned in their respective primes, particularly given that his shooting was meh in the RS *and* the playoffs.

[Colbinii]

Curry's shooting this year was not good enough for him to be seriously considered better than any of G, J, or D, particularly given that his value is tied incredibly closely to shooting and shooting-adjacent intangibles ("gravity"). Put differently, if shooting is 99% of your game then you need to shoot better than Curry did this year in order to be considered better than either of the three aforementioned in their respective primes, particularly given that his shooting was meh in the RS *and* the playoffs.

Just to push back here--Curry's impact is tied to his Gravity, not directly linked to his shot making this season but over the course of his career.

Teams will double Curry from 30+ feet whether he is 4/5 or 1/5 in a game.

[maxwellcu]

That's second- or third- order stuff. Silent intangibles from yesteryear don't make you a better player than guys in their prime doing it right now.

Curry shot a poor 43.7 from the field and a modest 38 from 3 in RS. A mildly better 45.9 from the field and a solid 39.7 from 3 in the PS. When your primary strength is shooting, that isn't good enough shooting to be better than historically great peaks from G and J, especially with modest volume.

[shi-woo]

Curry disrespect is getting ridiculous.

He was clearly the best player in the entire playoffs and didn't have that all great of a team.

I don't understand what exactly makes Giannis, Jokic or Luka a better player than him.

To me he should be 1st.

giannis plays offense and defense in addition to rebounding. luka and jokic score, rebound and assist at higher levels than curry. all three get picked on defensively, so that's a wash.

I'm curious if this is actually true in regards to Steph? Because I never really see him getting picked on the way someone like Payton Pritchard did, or someone like Trae Young.

And just saying defense is kind of unclear. What part of defense? Players can be good at other aspects of something. Steph is an incredible team defender, the finals showed that.

We all say KD is an incredible offensive player, arguably the greatest of all time. Hows his handle? Would you trust KD to put the ball on the floor full court against guys like Marcus Smart or Ron Artest? I wouldn't, but that doesn't take away from KD's ridiculous talent on that end of the floor. Hows his mental game?

Kawhii is arguably the best all around player in the L according to some....when he's healthy.

Giannis is a ridiculous athletic freak that can do it all. Would you put your savings on him to win the 3pnt contest? Your teams down by 3 with 5 seconds to go, are you the coach that wants to run a screen for a Giannis 3?

Okay, so Steph can't guard guys 6 inches bigger than him in the post...okay, same with 95% of players in the NBA. Players are compared based on their level of competition, and players comparable to them. There is a much larger gap between Curry and his peers (Harden, Beal, Lowry, Kyrie, Dame, Trae, Booker, ect) than any other player mentioned in the top 10.

No player has to change their game to play with Steph. Can you say the same for LeBron and Luka?

Hiding behind "Steph can't block shots or guard LBJ 1v1" is a bad argument to make, because those are the only clear weaknesses he has on defense

[shoresy69]

Curry's shooting this year was not good enough for him to be seriously considered better than any of G, J, or D, particularly given that his value is tied incredibly closely to shooting and shooting-adjacent intangibles ("gravity"). Put differently, if shooting is 99% of your game then you need to shoot better than Curry did this year in order to be considered better than either of the three aforementioned in their respective primes, particularly given that his shooting was meh in the RS *and* the playoffs.

If this were true Curry wouldn't have blown away every guard in impact metrics (including Doncic). Obviously you can't put all your eggs in the impact metric basket, but even simpler stuff like on/off differential show him lapping the backcourt competition last season (again, including Doncic).

[Swish1906]

Weird that an elite roleplayer like DFS doesn’t make the top 100. I’m pretty sure 30 of 30 teams would pick him over Someone like Dillon Brooks

[JJ_PR]

Draymond Green ahead of Darius Garland? That deserves a big fat WTF.