SI Top 100 2021-22

[Tor_Raps]

He's not in my top 50. But the PPG power is strong at most sports journalism websites, especially one as old as SI. I'd be surprised if they left him off entirely without even mentioning him in the snubs section. Again, people like Oladipo and Aldridge got listed as snubs so I assume they really respect a big name around those parts. Also the Bulls just paid him to be a top... 43 player lol.

It's not only his scoring but he's become a really good playmaker too. Yes his defense and 3 point shooting suck but he's still easily a top 50 player in the NBA.

What's your theory as to why his teams are always better when he's on the bench?

Part of that is that he's played on teams with good benches so they have been able to do well against other teams reserves. That doesn't mean those same lineups would succeed against the lineups that Demar has to face as he has always drawn the other teams best defenders. He has still played 35MPG so his teams have only been "better" for short stints.

I will tell you that the Raptors wouldn't have come close to multiple 50 win seasons without Demar. He just shouldn't be your teams best offensive player and sadly, he has had that burden on him his whole career. That is why his teams haven't had much playoff success as they just weren't talented enough.

Lavine and Vucevic will be the 2 best offensive players he's played with his whole career but too bad they can't defend a lick either so who knows how that will actually workout.

[deadfeather]

I was thinking THT, Melo, Dwight, Rondo, and DeAndre might be in the bottom 50. I cant argue with them being in the top 50. I'm pleased with this at least. THT might even make the top 20.

[TheAlchemist]

100. Jordan Clarkson, Utah Jazz
99. Ivica Zubac, Los Angeles Clippers
98. Larry Nance Jr., Portland Trail Blazers
97. Tyrese Haliburton, Sacramento Kings
96. Tim Hardaway Jr., Dallas Mavericks
95. Jonathan Isaac, Orlando Magic
94. Malik Beasley, Minnesota Timberwolves
93. Derrick White, San Antonio Spurs
92. Norman Powell, Portland Trail Blazers
91. Evan Fournier, New York Knicks
90. Jae Crowder, Phoenix Suns
89. Derrick Rose, New York Knicks
88. Andrew Wiggins, Golden State Warriors
87. Jaren Jackson Jr., Memphis Grizzlies
86. Jonas Valančiūnas, New Orleans Pelicans
85. Duncan Robinson, Miami Heat
84. Dillon Brooks, Memphis Grizzlies
83. Jarrett Allen, Cleveland Cavaliers
82: Brook Lopez, Milwaukee Bucks
81. Seth Curry, Philadelphia 76ers
80. Robert Covington, Portland Trail Blazers
79. Buddy Hield, Sacramento Kings
78. Terry Rozier, Charlotte Hornets
77. Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves
76. Lonzo Ball, Chicago Bulls
75. Spencer Dinwiddie, Washington Wizards
74. Bojan Bogdanovic, Utah Jazz
73. Dejounte Murray, San Antonio Spurs
​​72. Joe Harris, Brooklyn Nets
71. Collin Sexton, Cleveland Cavaliers
70. Myles Turner, Indiana Pacers
69. Kemba Walker, New York Knicks
68. Joe Ingles, Utah Jazz
67. Harrison Barnes, Sacramento Kings
66. Christian Wood, Houston Rockets
65. Jusuf Nurkić, Portland Trail Blazers
64. Bogdan Bogdanovic, Atlanta Hawks
63. Aaron Gordon, Denver Nuggets
62. Caris LeVert, Indiana Pacers
61. D’Angelo Russell, Minnesota Timberwolves
60. Marcus Smart, Boston Celtics
59. OG Anunoby, Toronto Raptors
58. Kristaps Porziņģis, Dallas Mavericks
57. Klay Thompson, Golden State Warriors
56. De’Andre Hunter, Atlanta Hawks
55. Jerami Grant, Detroit Pistons
54. John Collins, Atlanta Hawks
53: Mikal Bridges, Phoenix Suns
52. Michael Porter Jr, Denver Nuggets
51. LaMelo Ball, Charlotte Hornets

To be continued...

https://www.si.com/nba/2021/09/20/ranking-best-nba-players-top-100-2022

Some pretty big takes here...

Christian Wood averaged 21 points with 38% from the 3 and 51% from the field. Yeah Houston sucks, but c'mon.

John Collins was a beast in the playoffs, should be top 40, not 50. If the logic is Christian Woods got penalized for a bad team, then John Collins being in the ECF and playing well should get him top 40.

OG adobe should be a tad bit higher. Brings more value then Porzingos. Grant.

Caris Lavert doesn't feel like the 62nd best player.

Basicaly Klay should still be top 30 still. His skill is based upon shooting not penetration driving. Collins should be higher, Wood should higher. Smart should be lower. Hunter is based on potential.

[DroseReturnChi]

I came here to see how low Demar would be ranked. He became the yearly lowball player. Maybe he's not even in the top 100 lol.

demar is trash more like 150 now that we know lakers wanted him vet min/mle.
same with porzingis. he plays like top 158.

[GeorgeMarcus]

LaMelo is too high but there's nothing egregious about the list so far (as far as top 100s go). It's really hard to rate some of these guys between health concerns and projected improvement (Isaac, Klay, Edwards, etc). I'm sure I'll be more critical of the top 50 but for now it gets a pass

[cupcakesnake]

Really hard for me to imagine anyone putting DeRozan Top 50 right now. For the last two seasons he's been on lottery teams that do better with him on the bench.

If you're wondering how he could below someone like Drummond - who has literally never really figured out how to play the game on a level where he can be one of 5 main players on a contender - that's a good point, so maybe he will be in their Top 50, I just think he has no business being in contention on that level.

He's not in my top 50. But the PPG power is strong at most sports journalism websites, especially one as old as SI. I'd be surprised if they left him off entirely without even mentioning him in the snubs section. Again, people like Oladipo and Aldridge got listed as snubs so I assume they really respect a big name around those parts. Also the Bulls just paid him to be a top... 43 player lol.

You're probably right, and yeah, agree with you that I think the Bulls are fooling themselves in thinking they're building a contender with their Lavine/Vucevic/DeRozan Big 3.

You calling them a Big 3 just called to memory that Chicago did this before recently. The 3 Alphas (Rondo, Butler, Wade) were Chicago's last horribly designed "big 3". These are very different kinds of bad fit (too much on-ball, not enough shooting vs. too little defense) but I gotta shout out Chicago for being the worst constructor of 'Big 3s' in recent memory.

[cupcakesnake]

LaMelo is too high but there's nothing egregious about the list so far (as far as top 100s go). It's really hard to rate some of these guys between health concerns and projected improvement (Isaac, Klay, Edwards, etc). I'm sure I'll be more critical of the top 50 but for now it gets a pass

I think there's some strange inconsistencies with how they treat "health concerns and projected improvement". Mainly Caris Levert (62) getting a massive benefit of the doubt after failing to crack 50 games for 3 straight seasons, Dinwiddie at 75 and De'Andre Hunter being at 56 despite missing most of last season. Meanwhile, Jonathan Isaac is down 95 and Jaren Jackson Jr. is at 87 and the reason cited is their recent injuries.

It just feels a bit random. The list sometimes feels tilted towards scoring/shot creation, but there are random exception where they value some people's defense as their main attribute but don't do the same for other equal defenders. Or what am I supposed to conclude from a 20 spot gap between Tim Hardaway Jr. and Bojan Bogdanovic/Joe Harris/Spencer Dinwiddie. Even if this is a guess at this year, are all those guys going to be better than Anthony Edwards.

Great, here I go, I'm apparently taking this list seriously now!

[BNM]

Also, I realize that injuries are a huge factor, but Nurkic has really fallen off. You can't put him ahead of Valanciunas.

You can if you consider defense.

Honestly, you have a point. JV had a career year and probably deserves to be ranked higher, but there is a reason he's on his 3rd team in the last two and a half years. As good as his counting stats are, he can easily be played off the floor by exploiting him in the pick and roll.

And yes, Nurk's higher rating probably has a lot to do with how he was playing pre-injury, but even post injury, out of shape Nurk is way better defensively than Jonas. Nurk's injuries should not limit him long term. I guess we'll see which version of Nurk shows up this season. He's had a full off season to work on his game and his conditioning. It's a contract year and he has a new coach who has said he wants to get Nurk more involved at both ends (he's also a much better passer than Jonas). If we see anything close to pre-injury Nurk, he deserves to be in the Top 50 (something like 44, where SI had him ranked last year). If not, you're right and JV should be ranked higher.

[matt6715]

I don't know how to rank a guy like Porziņģis.

Top 20 guy for 10 games a year
Barely top 50/100 guy for 30 games a year
Out with injury the remaining 40 games

58 feels right? lol

[Clyde Frazier]

The dumbest part about these lists? They're literally created for engagement so they're intentionally inaccurate. They'll release videos the DAY OF saying "was [insert player here] snubbed?! Our panel weighs in" for popular/divisive players.

[Doctor MJ]

It's not only his scoring but he's become a really good playmaker too. Yes his defense and 3 point shooting suck but he's still easily a top 50 player in the NBA.

What's your theory as to why his teams are always better when he's on the bench?

Part of that is that he's played on teams with good benches so they have been able to do well against other teams reserves. That doesn't mean those same lineups would succeed against the lineups that Demar has to face as he has always drawn the other teams best defenders. He has still played 35MPG so his teams have only been "better" for short stints.

I will tell you that the Raptors wouldn't have come close to multiple 50 win seasons without Demar. He just shouldn't be your teams best offensive player and sadly, he has had that burden on him his whole career. That is why his teams haven't had much playoff success as they just weren't talented enough.

Lavine and Vucevic will be the 2 best offensive players he's played with his whole career but too bad they can't defend a lick either so who knows how that will actually workout.

That's a good Toronto theory of DeRozan, but that was years ago and in the mean time he's been playing on lottery teams where the team still does better with him playing "Bench".

I'll also say, when has DeRozan ever had success in a role where he isn't the primary scorer? That's what he's done basically his entire career right? Hence, the theory of DeRozan being better suited for a smaller role just seems strange to me. Closest I could come would say he's best suited to be a 6th man.

[Tor_Raps]

What's your theory as to why his teams are always better when he's on the bench?

Part of that is that he's played on teams with good benches so they have been able to do well against other teams reserves. That doesn't mean those same lineups would succeed against the lineups that Demar has to face as he has always drawn the other teams best defenders. He has still played 35MPG so his teams have only been "better" for short stints.

I will tell you that the Raptors wouldn't have come close to multiple 50 win seasons without Demar. He just shouldn't be your teams best offensive player and sadly, he has had that burden on him his whole career. That is why his teams haven't had much playoff success as they just weren't talented enough.

Lavine and Vucevic will be the 2 best offensive players he's played with his whole career but too bad they can't defend a lick either so who knows how that will actually workout.

That's a good Toronto theory of DeRozan, but that was years ago and in the mean time he's been playing on lottery teams where the team still does better with him playing "Bench".

I'll also say, when has DeRozan ever had success in a role where he isn't the primary scorer? That's what he's done basically his entire career right? Hence, the theory of DeRozan being better suited for a smaller role just seems strange to me. Closest I could come would say he's best suited to be a 6th man.

We haven't even seen that as a potential option with Demar though. No one on the Raptors or Spurs were close to taking that mantle from him. That speaks to the level of offensive talent he's played with. Until we've seen him in the position where he could be the 3rd option, it's hard for us to comment on how it could work.

I'd agree that it seems hard for Demar to play off others since he doesn't defend or shoot 3's at a high level. Usually players as ball dominant as him without being a number 1 or 2 option are good 6th men. He's clearly better than the Jordan Clarksons of the world though.

[bisme37]

I think SI released 30-50 today but I guess I used up all my access yesterday because it won't let me read the article. If anyone wants to share the list here it would be pretty cool.

[JXL]

RJ Barrett was left out of this ranking (which is worthless anyway just like ESPN's ranking)

Just more fuel to add to his All-Star leap.

[Doctor MJ]

Part of that is that he's played on teams with good benches so they have been able to do well against other teams reserves. That doesn't mean those same lineups would succeed against the lineups that Demar has to face as he has always drawn the other teams best defenders. He has still played 35MPG so his teams have only been "better" for short stints.

I will tell you that the Raptors wouldn't have come close to multiple 50 win seasons without Demar. He just shouldn't be your teams best offensive player and sadly, he has had that burden on him his whole career. That is why his teams haven't had much playoff success as they just weren't talented enough.

Lavine and Vucevic will be the 2 best offensive players he's played with his whole career but too bad they can't defend a lick either so who knows how that will actually workout.

That's a good Toronto theory of DeRozan, but that was years ago and in the mean time he's been playing on lottery teams where the team still does better with him playing "Bench".

I'll also say, when has DeRozan ever had success in a role where he isn't the primary scorer? That's what he's done basically his entire career right? Hence, the theory of DeRozan being better suited for a smaller role just seems strange to me. Closest I could come would say he's best suited to be a 6th man.

We haven't even seen that as a potential option with Demar though. No one on the Raptors or Spurs were close to taking that mantle from him. That speaks to the level of offensive talent he's played with. Until we've seen him in the position where he could be the 3rd option, it's hard for us to comment on how it could work.

I'd agree that it seems hard for Demar to play off others since he doesn't defend or shoot 3's at a high level. Usually players as ball dominant as him without being a number 1 or 2 option are good 6th men. He's clearly better than the Jordan Clarksons of the world though.

I mean, as I said, the teams were doing better with him on the bench, so what does it mean to "come close to take his spot" when the team actually doing better without DeRozan doesn't make him lose his job?

Now I'll acknowledge that it's easier to perform against bench competition, so it's not unreasonable to default to the assumption that DeRozan deserved his spot...but Toronto and San Antonio both moved on from him by the time he was 31 while his high school class draftmate (Jrue Holiday) continues to be a player that contenders covet despite not being a top tier payer.

[ballup]

I think SI released 30-50 today but I guess I used up all my access yesterday because it won't let me read the article. If anyone wants to share the list here it would be pretty cool.

50. Tobias Harris
49. Jamal Murray
48. Clint Capela
47. Malcolm Brogdon
46. Fred VanVleet
45. Gordon Hayward
44. Pascal Siakam
43. Mike Conley
42. Demar DeRozan
41. Juilius Randle
40. Kyle Lowry
39. Nikola Vucevic
38. CJ McCollum
37. DeAndre Ayton
36. Domantas Sabonis
35. Draymond Green
34. Russell Westbrook
33. Brandon Ingram
32. De'Aaron Fox
31. Ben Simmons

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[Tor_Raps]

That's a good Toronto theory of DeRozan, but that was years ago and in the mean time he's been playing on lottery teams where the team still does better with him playing "Bench".

I'll also say, when has DeRozan ever had success in a role where he isn't the primary scorer? That's what he's done basically his entire career right? Hence, the theory of DeRozan being better suited for a smaller role just seems strange to me. Closest I could come would say he's best suited to be a 6th man.

We haven't even seen that as a potential option with Demar though. No one on the Raptors or Spurs were close to taking that mantle from him. That speaks to the level of offensive talent he's played with. Until we've seen him in the position where he could be the 3rd option, it's hard for us to comment on how it could work.

I'd agree that it seems hard for Demar to play off others since he doesn't defend or shoot 3's at a high level. Usually players as ball dominant as him without being a number 1 or 2 option are good 6th men. He's clearly better than the Jordan Clarksons of the world though.

I mean, as I said, the teams were doing better with him on the bench, so what does it mean to "come close to take his spot" when the team actually doing better without DeRozan doesn't make him lose his job?

Now I'll acknowledge that it's easier to perform against bench competition, so it's not unreasonable to default to the assumption that DeRozan deserved his spot...but Toronto and San Antonio both moved on from him by the time he was 31 while his high school class draftmate (Jrue Holiday) continues to be a player that contenders covet despite not being a top tier payer.

That's not a fair assumption to make. We had to trade Demar to get someone like Kawhi on our team. It had nothing to do with wanting to get rid of him for the sake of it. That's what we did with Rudy Gay, not Demar.

The Spurs/Pop took a package of Demar over everything else offered so that should speak volumes of what his peers think. The Spurs clearly don't have a roster built to win now while Demar is in that mode. That is why the Spurs wanted to move on from him.

Bulls have pushed all their chips in this season and hoped Demar can help to take them over the top. Not a fan of how that team is constructed though so we'll see how that works.

[SUPERVILLAIN]

Updated with 50-31.

[BNM]

44. Pascal Siakam
.
.
.
.
38. CJ McCollum
.
.
.
.
31. Ben Simmons

Would love to see a CJ for Pascal or Simmons swap to balance POR's roster. In the case of Siakam, there would probably have to be a third team involved as CJ and his contract don't fit with TOR's rebuilding plans.

WRT Simmons, I just think Morey is just being stubborn and hoping he can get a Harden like haul for a very talented, but also very flawed player. It would seem like a CJ plus FRP for Simmons swap would be good for both teams - especially with Simmons saying he'll never play for PHI again.

Anyway, I found it interesting that all three of these players are ranked in the same general range.

[BNM]

Updated with 50-31.

Thanks you!