Your top 20 current NBA Players

[feyki]

First tier - Curry,Harden,Lebron,Durant

2nd tier - Westbrook,Kawhi,Davis

3rd tier - CP3,Butler,Giannis,George,Cousins,Draymond,Wall

4th tier - Griffin,Lilliard,Irving,Jokic

5th tier - Gobert,Klay,Isaiah,Towns,Derozan,Lowry
.

[laika]

Curry
Lebron
Paul
Durant
Westbrook
Harden
Kawhi
Gobert
Butler
Lowry
Davis
Giannis
Jokic
Millsap
Green
Wall
Love
Lillard
Griffin
George

[THE J0KER]

Lebron
Westbrook
Durant
Curry
Kawhi
Harden
Davis
Paul
Butler
KAT
Jokic
Giannis
Gobert
George
Irving
Lillard
Wall
Green
Thomas
Griffin


I guess someone from Toronto and Memphis also deserves to be on this TOP20 list, but it is very hard to choose this season someone between Lowry/DeRozen and M.Gasol/Conley so I give the advantage to some franchise players from others teams.

[Colbinii]

Well that would just be silly.

Admit it. You didn't even want a discussion. You just wanted to see the reaction of you placing him in your top-5.

Considering I've seen every game he has played in the NBA I think I can safely assume he's extremely special. He's not top 5 now but before he hits his prime he will be. He's definitely top 20 if age means anything to this discussion which I think it should as his ceiling is insane.

Why would age mean anything if you made a title titled "Top 20 Current Players"?

Devin Booker is as close to the top 20 as Zach LaVine is.

Sent from my SM-G920P using RealGM mobile app

[daschysta]

When PG is at his best he's still better than many in front of him on these lists in the last 42 games he's played he averages 25 ppg 7 rpg 3.5 apg on .474/.399 and 90 percent from the line and he's an excellent defender. The only thing he doesn't do is get to the line, but even that makes him a better playoff performer than many of these guys who rely on that.

[dontcalltimeout]

When PG is at his best he's still better than many in front of him on these lists in the last 42 games he's played he averages 25 ppg 7 rpg 3.5 apg on .474/.399 and 90 percent from the line and he's an excellent defender. The only thing he doesn't do is get to the line, but even that makes him a better playoff performer than many of these guys who rely on that.

But there's a reason you're isolating the last 42 games, right? Because he looks worse if you take the average of the full season. This is not the first year he has had trouble sustaining that level of play over a whole season and that's something that people take into account when comparing to the top players in the league.

The other question is: how much of an edge does his defense give him?

[Doctor MJ]

Top of my head:

LeBron
Curry
Durant
Kawhi
Harden
Westbrook
Paul
Draymond
Davis
Wall
Isaiah
Giannis
Gobert
Jokic
Butler
Millsap
Lowry
KAT
Gasol
Griffin

Is that in order? I have to say I am surprised you have Isaiah so high. It's very justifiable, just that I'm surprised you rank him that high considering the value you place on defense.

Nah. This is just top of my head stuff. Isaiah came to mind having just led a team to a #1 seed, but the defense is a big problem.

[JoeSchmo24]

1. Lebron
2. Curry
3. Durant
4. Kawhi
5. Westbrook
6. Harden
7. CP3
8. Davis
9. Wall
10. Butler
11. Kyrie
12. Klay
13. KAT
14. Giannis
15. Cousins
16. I. Thomas
17. Griffin
18. Gasol
19. Lillard
20.Derozan

[TheOGJabroni]

James
Westbrook
Durant
Harden
Curry
Leonard
Paul
Davis
Antetokounmpo
George
Lowry
Butler
Gobert
Thomas
Wall
Towns
Cousins
Green
Hayward
Jokic

Without going crazy with reordering people, something like this for me.

[Winsome Gerbil]

1. Russell Westbrook
2. James Harden
3. LeBron James
4. Kawhi Leonard
5. Stephen Curry
6. Kevin Durant
7. Chris Paul
8. Anthony Davis
9. Giannis Antetokuompo
10. Jimmy Butler
11. John Wall
12. Rudy Gobert
13. Karl-Anthony Towns
14. Paul George
15. Isaiah Thomas
16. Draymond Green
17. Nikola Jokic
18. Kyle Lowry
19. DeMarcus Cousins
20. Blake Griffin

Feel very odd having Boogie in the top 20, I genuinely feel like he has to have something to show for all these years in the league now. Could easily move Blake up one and put in Hayward at 20. Idk.

He does have something to show for it.

2 terrible owners, at least 3 GMs, 7? coaches. About 60-70 different teammates, most of whom are out of the league now. And the honor of making some seriously **** lineups at least a little dangerous while he was on the floor. In your long list of people you have above him only a handful could have done more under the circumstances. In fact many of them have been on teams that have struggled to win just as badly, as you anoint KAT, forget how CP3's New Orleans days ended, that Isaiah won no more on the Kings, with Cousins, that Davis has all of one 8th seed, what people thought of Curry before the cavalry arrived etc etc. etc. The difference is that while their organizations failed for stretches, none of them have failed as long or hard as the Kings through the midst of their ownership crisis and 11 straight years out of the playoffs.

I understand all that but I guess I've just been hearing a lot of stories lately about what a terrible teammate he was at Sacramento. The way he used to treat rookies, the amount he used to cuss people out for tiny mistakes... it is obviously different from his play on the court so I'm probably biased but I just feel like someone like that will still hurt your team.

I had a similar conversation with somebody over on the general board a few days ago, but was pretty convinced after a few exchanges that he was just a hater/troll and would have no interest in this, and so wasn't going to make the effort. Here though I feel there's more chance it will be worth it.

See the funny thing about the "narrative" is that it's largely driven by outsiders. Other than George Karl, who has always been an ass, you're not going to find a coach who hasn't liked Cousins since he was still an angry rook fresh off the college boat. Other than perhaps Jason Thompson? you're not going to find many recent teammates with a problem with Cousins either. The key to understanding Cousins is that he is a fiercely loyal guy. You could say a tribal guy, if you weren't afraid of racist trolls running with it. You are either one of his guys, or while in Sac, his city, or you are one of "them". The media is "them". Unfortunately the media is also who you depend on for news about Cousins, and to say they have their own agendas (Sac's media has a couple of real longtime trolls) would be an understatement. The refs are "them". His teammates? Coaches liek Malone and Joerger? By and large these are his boys. Ask Omri Casspi or Darren Collison or Skal Labissierre or Georgis? os? Papagiannis or Anthony Tolliver or Garret Temple or Matt Barnes and the list goes on if Cousins was a bad teammate. This interview was done a few weeks back with Papagiannis:




And I also always like to mention: you know that Michael Jordan not only used to scream at and belittle teammates, he actually hit them in practice? KG too. Even if the trolling tripe were true, it's hardly unprecedented for a star to drive his teammates hard and scream at them, and it's worked for some of the greatest champions in the league's history.

[daschysta]

.

[daschysta]

When PG is at his best he's still better than many in front of him on these lists in the last 42 games he's played he averages 25 ppg 7 rpg 3.5 apg on .474/.399 and 90 percent from the line and he's an excellent defender. The only thing he doesn't do is get to the line, but even that makes him a better playoff performer than many of these guys who rely on that.

But there's a reason you're isolating the last 42 games, right? Because he looks worse if you take the average of the full season. This is not the first year he has had trouble sustaining that level of play over a whole season and that's something that people take into account when comparing to the top players in the league.

The other question is: how much of an edge does his defense give him?

Nah he's having the best offensive season of his career, no isolating 23.7 ppg on 59% TS. If I were trying to Isolate I would be talking hos last 11 (30.8 ppg on 53/44 and 8 rpg) or his last 22 28.5 ppg on 51/43 and 8 rpg)

He's a very efficient scoring option now, and his D does give him an edge over alot of the other guys listed above him. I also did say "at his best" if he played all year like the last quarter of the season he'd be in MVP talks instead he's just another elite player, which isn't all that bad.

Knick on him was always inefficiency, and he's been extremely efficient this year withouy relyinh on the free throw line.