ESPN NBA top 100 for 2022

[mdonnelly1989]

Minnesota with 3 top 25 players, is ESPN making the wolves the early favorites?

3/top 25 players is impressive.

I think they should be. They were already 2 games away from beating the Grizzlies whom would have given GS a run for their money if Ja didn't get injured.

They do have 3 of the top 25 players in the league at the moment. But if you want to say 3 of the top 30 that's fine too.

[RipHamilton]

He won the title with Andrew Wiggins as the second best player on his team. Wiggins actually played very well, which he hadn’t done overly before getting next to Curry. Klay Thompson was working back from two and a half years away from the game having sustained two of the worst injuries in basketball in successive years. Green missed a third of the season with a back injury. Game 1 of the play-offs was the first time all three played together since the 2019 finals, with Curry off he bench at that after his own injury problems. Any team in the NBA could have had GPII on their roster and he was injured for half the play-offs in any case.

What more do you want from Curry ?. I rate Giannis, but the other 3 players you mention have not delivered in the play-offs, to the contrary in Embiid’s case, and I am not yet convinced the games of the other two will ever translate either, great though Jokic has been in successive regular seasons. Curry has not only delivered historically but obviously also just did.so again. And last time I looked GSW were second in the betting for the 2023 title. Do you think this could be vaguely related to having Curry on the team ?.

If I found myself in agreement with ESPN I would be looking to re-examine my positions rather than feeling any vindication.

Wait a moment, are you trying to convince someone that Curry did not have a great team next to him or what? Klay Thompson and Draymond were not in their peak, but still, they are two of the best basketball players in the last 10 years. His defense, IQ, quality, and experience are second to none. Then we have Wiggins, who has made a spectacular playoff defense. Always effective in attack and contributing to both sides of the pitch. And if that wasn't enough, we have Jordan Poole, a talented scorer, who can change the game from the bench. And if he doesn't have his day, nothing happens, there are 3 HOF in the squad still to win the match.

So Curry played with 2 future HOF, and all star starter and with a really talented young player, and coached by another HOF. Warriors won the title because their roster is clearly the best one. The only question was the injuries. Without injuries, it was by far the best squad.

Good luck to the current Curry getting to the conference finals with Jalen Brunson, Maxi Kleber and Dwight Powell. Like Luka would have not won the title with 2 HOF, one all star and Poole on his team.

Curry is a legend. But Luka at 23 is superior to Curry at 34.

And we should not be talking about Jokic, thats a joke. He has played basketball perfectly in the last two years, he cannot contribute more, it is physically impossible. You can go elsewhere to sell the story that they have not delivered in playoffs. It's ridiculous. As if in the playoffs he played baseball and forgot to play basketball. It's the same game. The reality is that in the playoffs you play against the best teams and that's why you lose, there's no more. The reality is that Jokic played with my grandmother on his team. Jordan Poole, who is the best fifth player of the Warriors would have been, clearly, the best player on the Nuggets after Jokic. The same with Klay, Draymond or Wiggings.

Draymond is 43. Klay is 37. Wiggings is 32. Poole is 55. Gordon at 83. Brunson at 67. Talking about Curry as the best player isn't disrespectful to Curry, it's disrespectful to Klay, Wiggings and Draymond.

[babyjax13]

I feel like they confused Bogdan Bogdanovic with Bojan, no way Bogdan is better, that's silly.

[TheGOATRises007]

Curry should be ahead of Embiid for me.

The top 10 looks fine otherwise.

[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.

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.

Giannis is not close to the offensive force Curry is. Curry destroyed the same Celtics defense that Giannis at times struggled with.

Look at their numbers in those series. It wasn't close.

Curry has carried plenty of bad teams to the playoffs. So what?

Wiggins is not really much better than Brunson or Jrue Holiday. Give me a break. Nuggets yes.

[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.

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.

Giannis doesn't have Curry's passing ability or IQ. Or frankly scoring ability.

Luka/Jokic have never proven they can win. Slightly higher rebound/assist totals?

Call me when they win a Championship.

Curry's defense is way better now. He doesn't get picked one the way Luka does.

[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.

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?

2 future hall of famers is a pretty dumb argument when they are shells of their former selves.

Drayond is an utter offensive liability at this point and Klay wasn't even good most of the playoffs.

Bench players? Ok.

It wasn't a great team at all.

[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.

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.

Calling Klay an All Star based on the season he just had is pretty laughable. This isn't 2018.

What happened when Jokic had Jamal Murray putting up 50 a night?

Literally got sonned by Anthony Davis.

He hasn't proven **** yet.

[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.

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.

Giannis is the only one you can make an argument for.

None of the other have ever proven they can win at the highest level.

[WarriorGM]

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.

It's comical because you're using a 2nd in MVP votes and more regular season games played to argue Embiid is better when we have the playoffs results as well. I haven't checked but I'm guessing even if we were to look at regular season games alone Curry probably had a better % wins record because Curry had the edge on that even on Doncic.

These player ranking lists always underestimate Curry and pass off the ridiculousness by saying they are projections for the upcoming year. It's unaccountable media manipulation for the gullible. There is no basis for any of their conclusions on Curry based on actual results. It is possible to argue as I have that Curry has had the greatest 5 year span of any NBA career. Curry has been the best player in the league since 2015. Any rankings that do not indicate that are total b***.

[Rapsin6]

Minnesota with 3 top 25 players, is ESPN making the wolves the early favorites?

3/top 25 players is impressive.

They have an early power rankings out. Fun fact, Minnesota with 3 players who they predict will be in the top 25 players, they predict to be in 7th in the west. Toronto, whom their best player is predicted to be the 30th best player according to their list, they are predicting to be 6th in a more competitive east. Weird.

[nikster]

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.

Giannis is not close to the offensive force Curry is. Curry destroyed the same Celtics defense that Giannis at times struggled with.

Look at their numbers in those series. It wasn't close.

Curry has carried plenty of bad teams to the playoffs. So what?

Wiggins is not really much better than Brunson or Jrue Holiday. Give me a break. Nuggets yes.

How is he not close? You can argue Giannis 2021 run is offensively better then any run of Curry's, with the Finals being more impressive then Curry's.

As for the numbers against the Celtics , Curry was more efficient but Giannis had 3 more points, 2 more assists and pulled in an extra 2 possessions per game with offensive rebounds. Curry's statistically better but it's certainly close.

More important is how the Celtics defended the stars. Celtics played drop coverage on Curry for the first 4 games to focus on his teammates. Predictably Curry tore up that D. As soon as they switched their coverage in game 5 Curry was slowed but Wiggins was freed up and had a big game. Imagine how Giannis would do if Celtics didn't try to wall him off of the paint with help D.

I wouldn't call 2013 a Carry job so Curry has at most carried one bad team to the playoffs (if you consider that 2014 team bad)

[michaelm]

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.

Except his shooting came good when it mattered in the play-offs, and (obviously imo only) the regular season shooting is more likely to be an aberration given his career shooting, early season form and play-off performance.

If you want to put Jokic in particular ahead of him as a regular season player no problem. They can all be better than him in the regular season for all I care, performing in the play-offs is what counts for me, and for players like Curry who have already scaled the heights including having been the only unanimous MVP ever. I don't recall anyone marking down Lebron or Kawhi for load managing in the regular season when they won titles after doing so. in particular Lebron was rated on the basis of winning the title in 2016 as he should have been ahead of Curry who was the unanimous MVP. that season.

3 different title winning teams which have won 4 titles have been built around Curry now. Get back to me when that is true about Jokic, Doncic or particularly Embiid.

[michaelm]

He won the title with Andrew Wiggins as the second best player on his team. Wiggins actually played very well, which he hadn’t done overly before getting next to Curry. Klay Thompson was working back from two and a half years away from the game having sustained two of the worst injuries in basketball in successive years. Green missed a third of the season with a back injury. Game 1 of the play-offs was the first time all three played together since the 2019 finals, with Curry off he bench at that after his own injury problems. Any team in the NBA could have had GPII on their roster and he was injured for half the play-offs in any case.

What more do you want from Curry ?. I rate Giannis, but the other 3 players you mention have not delivered in the play-offs, to the contrary in Embiid’s case, and I am not yet convinced the games of the other two will ever translate either, great though Jokic has been in successive regular seasons. Curry has not only delivered historically but obviously also just did.so again. And last time I looked GSW were second in the betting for the 2023 title. Do you think this could be vaguely related to having Curry on the team ?.

If I found myself in agreement with ESPN I would be looking to re-examine my positions rather than feeling any vindication.

Wait a moment, are you trying to convince someone that Curry did not have a great team next to him or what? Klay Thompson and Draymond were not in their peak, but still, they are two of the best basketball players in the last 10 years. His defense, IQ, quality, and experience are second to none. Then we have Wiggins, who has made a spectacular playoff defense. Always effective in attack and contributing to both sides of the pitch. And if that wasn't enough, we have Jordan Poole, a talented scorer, who can change the game from the bench. And if he doesn't have his day, nothing happens, there are 3 HOF in the squad still to win the match.

So Curry played with 2 future HOF, and all star starter and with a really talented young player, and coached by another HOF. Warriors won the title because their roster is clearly the best one. The only question was the injuries. Without injuries, it was by far the best squad.

Good luck to the current Curry getting to the conference finals with Jalen Brunson, Maxi Kleber and Dwight Powell. Like Luka would have not won the title with 2 HOF, one all star and Poole on his team.

Curry is a legend. But Luka at 23 is superior to Curry at 34.

And we should not be talking about Jokic, thats a joke. He has played basketball perfectly in the last two years, he cannot contribute more, it is physically impossible. You can go elsewhere to sell the story that they have not delivered in playoffs. It's ridiculous. As if in the playoffs he played baseball and forgot to play basketball. It's the same game. The reality is that in the playoffs you play against the best teams and that's why you lose, there's no more. The reality is that Jokic played with my grandmother on his team. Jordan Poole, who is the best fifth player of the Warriors would have been, clearly, the best player on the Nuggets after Jokic. The same with Klay, Draymond or Wiggings.

Draymond is 43. Klay is 37. Wiggings is 32. Poole is 55. Gordon at 83. Brunson at 67. Talking about Curry as the best player isn't disrespectful to Curry, it's disrespectful to Klay, Wiggings and Draymond.

So you can build a team around Curry, as he has repeatedly proven.

The question is whether you can build a title winning team including an adequate defence around Jokic or Doncic given their style of play. I can't see how the jury is other than still out on same.

[WarriorGM]

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.

Giannis is not close to the offensive force Curry is. Curry destroyed the same Celtics defense that Giannis at times struggled with.

Look at their numbers in those series. It wasn't close.

Curry has carried plenty of bad teams to the playoffs. So what?

Wiggins is not really much better than Brunson or Jrue Holiday. Give me a break. Nuggets yes.

How is he not close? You can argue Giannis 2021 run is offensively better then any run of Curry's, with the Finals being more impressive then Curry's.

As for the numbers against the Celtics , Curry was more efficient but Giannis had 3 more points, 2 more assists and pulled in an extra 2 possessions per game with offensive rebounds. Curry's statistically better but it's certainly close.

More important is how the Celtics defended the stars. Celtics played drop coverage on Curry for the first 4 games to focus on his teammates. Predictably Curry tore up that D. As soon as they switched their coverage in game 5 Curry was slowed but Wiggins was freed up and had a big game. Imagine how Giannis would do if Celtics didn't try to wall him off of the paint with help D.

I wouldn't call 2013 a Carry job so Curry has at most carried one bad team to the playoffs (if you consider that 2014 team bad)

There's this story that Giannis's 2021 was somehow much more impressive than Curry's 2015. I passed it off as recency bias right afterward and I didn't want to spoil the party so I deferred comment but enough time has elapsed that the record needs to be set straight: no it wasn't—not even close. Giannis did not lead a team with a better record. Giannis did not face more impressive teams on his way to the championship. Giannis did not lead a less experienced team to victory. The Bucks beat an even less experienced Suns team in the finals than the one Doncic and the Mavericks sent home this year. There is no argument for any of the new guys aside from bigger personal stats which have nebulous correlation with winning.

[realball]

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.

Calling Klay an All Star based on the season he just had is pretty laughable. This isn't 2018.

What happened when Jokic had Jamal Murray putting up 50 a night?

Literally got sonned by Anthony Davis.

He hasn't proven **** yet.

LOL Curry got sonned by Ja last year without Klay I guess.

You're going to scoff at Klay being an All-Star, then talk about zero-time All-Star and All-NBAer Jamaal Murray? Laughable.

[michaelm]

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.

Calling Klay an All Star based on the season he just had is pretty laughable. This isn't 2018.

What happened when Jokic had Jamal Murray putting up 50 a night?

Literally got sonned by Anthony Davis.

He hasn't proven **** yet.

LOL Curry got sonned by Ja last year without Klay I guess.

You're going to scoff at Klay being an All-Star, then talk about zero-time All-Star and All-NBAer Jamaal Murray? Laughable.

Lol yourself. So the following season GSW re-built a title winning team around Curry, involving Klay Thompson returning after two and a half years away from the game recovering from two career threatening injuries, Kevon Looney wanted by no-other team at the time of his most recent contact extension, the much derided Andrew Wiggins who got up to speed with the GSW playing scheme, the development of Jordan Poole who was only barely a first round pick (and who is much better when next to Curry btw), and 3 vet minimum players, one of whom in GPII literally every team in the NBA could have signed. There was of course considerable addition by subtraction in losing Oubre.

Again, you can get back to me/us when those rated ahead of Curry other than Giannis manage anything like the above

[Wolveswin]

These lists are always weird. Ranking individuals in a team sport. So…

Does one ignore team success (rings, win totals and win %) and focus on…

Individual skill set. Like who would win in one-on-one or who as an individual make their team much better (with the ladder smudging to team success).

[everdiso]

Did they really put Grant Williams, a mediocre 20mpg bench player, on a top 100 list?

[michaelm]

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.

Giannis is not close to the offensive force Curry is. Curry destroyed the same Celtics defense that Giannis at times struggled with.

Look at their numbers in those series. It wasn't close.

Curry has carried plenty of bad teams to the playoffs. So what?

Wiggins is not really much better than Brunson or Jrue Holiday. Give me a break. Nuggets yes.

How is he not close? You can argue Giannis 2021 run is offensively better then any run of Curry's, with the Finals being more impressive then Curry's.

As for the numbers against the Celtics , Curry was more efficient but Giannis had 3 more points, 2 more assists and pulled in an extra 2 possessions per game with offensive rebounds. Curry's statistically better but it's certainly close.

More important is how the Celtics defended the stars. Celtics played drop coverage on Curry for the first 4 games to focus on his teammates. Predictably Curry tore up that D. As soon as they switched their coverage in game 5 Curry was slowed but Wiggins was freed up and had a big game. Imagine how Giannis would do if Celtics didn't try to wall him off of the paint with help D.

I wouldn't call 2013 a Carry job so Curry has at most carried one bad team to the playoffs (if you consider that 2014 team bad)

This is supposed to be a knock on Curry ?.

Even the widely heralded as the best defense in the NBA Celtics who had shut down KD and Giannis and had the DPOY on their roster couldn’t handle Curry with single coverage, and when they adopted a different strategy he did what he does when double or triple teamed or his shot is not falling and facilitated team mates rather than chasing his own numbers regardless.

You can pick your poison with Curry but that is pretty much it, except if other quality scoring options are lacking and LeBron James or Kawhi Leonard have no requirement to defend their direct opponent and are available to double or triple him, then sure he can be stopped, he is a 6’2” PG.