SI's Top 100 NBA Rankings 2020

[nomansland]

I'm glad they rated Murray relatively low. A guy like him will use this as motivation.

[LoveTheNBA23]

Zo not in the top 100 and the 20 from honorable mention. Not in the top 120? I dunno about that.

[TheNG]

It seems they have the all the top 27 players we voted here in the forum in their top30.
McColum (28th by us) and Oldaipo (29th by us) are 32nd and 39th respectively.
So it seems the other 3 guys in their top 30 (besides our top 27) are Horford, Aldridge and Zion.
Sounds acceptable to me (Zion is a gamble though)

[BNM]

Yeah if they're gonna punish Klay Thompson for a torn acl might as well leave Kevin Durant off the list.

Nurkic punished even more than Klay. He was 10th in the entire league in PIPM and much more impactful on defense than Klay last season. He is ranked way below several lesser centers. His injury happened in March. Klay's in June. Nurk was back in the gym doing strength and conditioning drills before Klay's injury even happened.

The quote from Olshey about Nurk returning in February is conservative and out of date. He has since said he's ahead of schedule. Paul George was back on the court 8 months after suffering an identical injury and was back playing at pre-injury All NBA level 13 months post injury. 8 months would put him on the court around Thanksgiving.

I think they will be conservative, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him back, perhaps coming off the bench on a minutes restriction, before the first of the year. They will want to see how he looks before the trade deadline to determine if they want to look to move Whiteside's huge expiring contract for an upgrade at one of the forward positions.

[TheNG]

I can't wait to see who will win the ranking battles in their list:
1. Simmons vs Doncic
2. Embiid vs Jokic
3. LeBron vs Giannis vs Kawhi

It's going to be fun

[Feel_the_Heat15]

Which player sounds better?

Blessed be the end-to-end centers, who speed up fast breaks rather than slow them down. Bam Adebayo is at his best when he runs and he knows it. Better yet: he styles his game accordingly, whether that means running a lane for his teammates or bringing the ball up himself. The whole thing makes for quite a show. Adebayo has more speed, bounce, and body control than a 6’10” player rightly should. All he needs is a cohesive way to bring all those attributes together on an even more frequent basis. Once he really harnesses the force of his shot-blocking, he could anchor one of the NBA’s top defenses. If Adebayo puts his ball skills to best use, he could be a key finisher and facilitator for a high-functioning offense. These things take time. In the interim, Adebayo is 22 years old and already a lot to contend with.

Or...

he question with players like Lauri Markkanen is this: When does offensive production translate to winning production? It’s not exactly his fault that the Bulls went 22-60 last season, but it’s also not as if Chicago was anywhere close to breaking even during his minutes on the floor. Young players can be thrilling. They can be promising. Not often are they actually that conducive to winning basketball games, which is the foremost criterion in the making of this list. This ranking reflects a sort of optimism in Markkanen turning the corner this season. He’s entering his third year after showing meaningful progress, he’ll be 23 years old at season’s end, and he’s already showcased his talents to the tune of 18.7 PPG and 9.0 RPG. Markkanen has a chance to be one of the premier stretch bigs in the league. First he just needs to break even.

Once again, Markkanen gets ranked based off potential. I think Okpala should be ranked top 50 just based off potential.

[LloydFree]

Too Low: Victor Oladipo, Marc Gasol, Marcus Smart, Robert Covington and Josh Richardson

Too High: CJ McCollum, Gary Harris, Bojan Bogdanovic, JJ Redick and Ricky Rubio

Ridiculously high: Kristaps Porzingis.

[LakersLegacy]

Don’t think the author actually watches many games.

[iamworthy]

Don’t think the author actually watches many games.

True, but it worked. It created a conversion.

[Jadoogar]

Yeah if they're gonna punish Klay Thompson for a torn acl might as well leave Kevin Durant off the list.

Durant was left of the list, it's stated in the second paragraph.

[BNM]

Too Low: Victor Oladipo, Marc Gasol, Marcus Smart, Robert Covington and Josh Richardson

Too High: CJ McCollum, Gary Harris, Bojan Bogdanovic, JJ Redick and Ricky Rubio

Ridiculously high: Kristaps Porzingis.

It's hard to account for injuries when making a list like this, but anyone who watched the Blazers last year knows that Nurkic was their second best player, not their second best scorer, that's clearly C.J., but Nurk's ability to defend the pick and roll is what allows them to get away with playing Dame and C.J. together. Too bad he wasn't around for the playoffs.

[jazzfan1971]

I thought Dangelo Russel and Gordon Hayward were projected too high. I get why they are, I just am less optimistic about their upside potential than the author.

[TheNG]

Yeah if they're gonna punish Klay Thompson for a torn acl might as well leave Kevin Durant off the list.

Durant was left of the list, it's stated in the second paragraph.

I guess it means they put Zion in the top 30

[BadWolf]

Lavine.... Is 5th (or 4th? ) best player on Bulls. And Porter is the best...

[bearadonisdna]

Which player sounds better?

Blessed be the end-to-end centers, who speed up fast breaks rather than slow them down. Bam Adebayo is at his best when he runs and he knows it. Better yet: he styles his game accordingly, whether that means running a lane for his teammates or bringing the ball up himself. The whole thing makes for quite a show. Adebayo has more speed, bounce, and body control than a 6’10” player rightly should. All he needs is a cohesive way to bring all those attributes together on an even more frequent basis. Once he really harnesses the force of his shot-blocking, he could anchor one of the NBA’s top defenses. If Adebayo puts his ball skills to best use, he could be a key finisher and facilitator for a high-functioning offense. These things take time. In the interim, Adebayo is 22 years old and already a lot to contend with.

Or...

he question with players like Lauri Markkanen is this: When does offensive production translate to winning production? It’s not exactly his fault that the Bulls went 22-60 last season, but it’s also not as if Chicago was anywhere close to breaking even during his minutes on the floor. Young players can be thrilling. They can be promising. Not often are they actually that conducive to winning basketball games, which is the foremost criterion in the making of this list. This ranking reflects a sort of optimism in Markkanen turning the corner this season. He’s entering his third year after showing meaningful progress, he’ll be 23 years old at season’s end, and he’s already showcased his talents to the tune of 18.7 PPG and 9.0 RPG. Markkanen has a chance to be one of the premier stretch bigs in the league. First he just needs to break even.

Once again, Markkanen gets ranked based off potential. I think Okpala should be ranked top 50 just based off potential.

Markkanen is less of project than bam even if it based off potential.

[bearadonisdna]

Lavine.... Is 5th (or 4th? ) best player on Bulls. And Porter is the best...

Imo he is clearly their best player.
2nd options aren’t usually seen as better than a teams 1st option. Regardless of much defense, winning contribution.

[BadWolf]

Lavine.... Is 5th (or 4th? ) best player on Bulls. And Porter is the best...

Imo he is clearly their best player.
2nd options aren’t usually seen as better than a teams 1st option. Regardless of much defense, winning contribution.

Porter?

[bearadonisdna]

Lavine.... Is 5th (or 4th? ) best player on Bulls. And Porter is the best...

Imo he is clearly their best player.
2nd options aren’t usually seen as better than a teams 1st option. Regardless of much defense, winning contribution.

Porter?

No Zach as the bulls best player.

[LoveMyRaps]

So Sports Illustrated is gonna have Lowry and Siakam in their top 30.
Meanwhile, more half this board was crying when Siakam & Lowry finished 23rd and 24th respectively on the realGM top 25 poll saying that us Raps fans rigged it.

[freethedevil]

https://www.si.com/nba/top-100-nba-players-2020

Ranks 100-31, tomorrow the top 30 will be revealed.

I will say this much, where Klay Thompson is ranked on this list is utterly insane. Discuss.

LMAO @ Kuzma