SI Top 100 2021-22

[Infinite Llamas]

Intangibles have to count for something no? I would take a ton of those players ranked after Simmons over Simmons.

[Doctor MJ]

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.

Pop choosing DeRozan over other options is basically what ended San Antonio's relevance. Many of us said so at the time, and now that the DeRozan era is over there, we can add up all the accomplishments of that time and confirm as such. I consider Pop the GOAT coach based on what he accomplished, but his reign ended with DeRozan's arrival.

So yeah, you got ridiculously lucky being able to acquire Kawhi for DeRozan. Very impressed with the move though right from the start even without Kawhi, because the Raptors probably would have felt obligated to max out DeRozan if they hadn't traded him, and the era would then have been known purely for regular season success and extreme playoff disappointment.

[aguiar95]

Spot on place for Simmons. He's better then everyone named on that list so far.

[Duffman100]

Lowry at 40 lol.

[Ballerhogger]

Ben Simmons over Westbrook ? How ?

[deadfeather]

I dont agree with THT, Dwight, DeAndre, Rondo and Melo being ranked above Russ. But I cant say I'm upset at them being top 30.

[DwayneSchintzus]

demar moves way up simply by leaving san antonio.

this is mental masturbation

[Kampuchea]

Where is RJ Barrett ranked? He shot 40% from three, scored 17.6ppg, and has a crazy work ethic. He'll make these lists look foolish. Maybe he is too old being 21 years old now.

[DAcReator]

Damn, kinda sad my teams best player is 44th best in a league of 30 teams

[UcanUwill]

Jonas in late 80s while Vucevic in the 30s is a joke to me. Most overrated player in the league.

[Message Boar]

Damn, kinda sad my teams best player is 44th best in a league of 30 teams

Yeah, I know the feeling

My team's highest ranked player being ranked 95th while returning from a major injury, in a 30 team league, should answer any questions about how grim the immediate future looks for us. Rofl according to this list Malik Beasley or Jae Crowder would be the best player on our team if we'd acquire them.

[UcanUwill]

Well, if makes you feel any better, I did not realize he was still in the league.

He just won 6MOY....

Well, 30 NBA teams=150 starters, which means technically, Clarkson is doing well for himself being at 100, correct?

Thats a HORRIBLE logic haha. Clarkson was in all star talks all year, and you didnt know he was in the league still?

[AbeVigodaLive]

Jonas in late 80s while Vucevic in the 30s is a joke to me. Most overrated player in the league.

I might not disagree all that much with you. But apparently, a few NBA folks do...

Just look at what each big guy garnered in a trade (basically):

Vucevic - Wendell Carter and two 1st rd picks
Valenculauiajnus: Adams, Bledsoe and one 1st rd pick (and essentially some young prospect pick swaps)

Obviously, there is wiggle room and context in the margins.

[UcanUwill]

Jonas in late 80s while Vucevic in the 30s is a joke to me. Most overrated player in the league.

I might not disagree all that much with you. But apparently, a few NBA folks do...

Just look at what each big guy garnered in a trade (basically):

Vucevic - Wendell Carter and two 1st rd picks
Valenculauiajnus: Bledsoe and one 1st rd pick (and essentially some young prospect pick swaps)

Obviously, there is wiggle room and context in the margins.

I really dont like Vucevic. I usually cant stand bigs who cant draw fouls whatsoever, unless they defensive beasts like prime Al Horford. I know that most value Vooch highly, thats why I call him overrated. Jonas gives you pretty much exact same scoring rate but on better efficiency, Vooch can just spread the floor better, but most of his game is just flash. He has smooth jumper for a seven footer, so everyone thinks hes better than Jonas, who is rather robotic a bit. But whats the matter if ones game less pretty on the eye, if its more efficient? Vooch doesnt go to the line at all, so he NEEDS to shoot absolutely lights out to be efficient, which he did for a while, but as soon as he has smallest of slumps, hes useless. I hate his soft game, he has such a soft generic game in the post, its like a 2k move that doesnt draw fouls at all, its crazy how soft that guy is, he is so lucky he landed on a trash team all his career that allowed to just play more minutes than jonas and jack shots. I really believe Jonas is better, or at worst equal.

[Hornet Mania]

Just looking at Hornets or former Hornets: Kemba being ahead of Rozier is silly. Melo also shouldn't be ahead of Rozier based on last season, but he should pass him with a bit of improvement this year. I'm surprised Hayward is so high, but I guess I can't quibble with it assuming he's healthy.

[FinnTheHuman]

Ben Simmons over Westbrook ? How ?

There's this thing called defense, and both you and your boy Russ haven't heard of it. If he stops going for the rebounds before the opponent lets it fly and keeps playing defense instead, then maybe you're onto something.

[dhsilv2]

What are we supposed to do here?

"Derrick White is ranked 93rd?? He's much closer to 87th!!!"

That's a more interesting topic than anything involving lebron, kobe, jordan, harden, kd, or luka....

[dhsilv2]

I remember when Zach Lowe used to do SI's top 100. It was an exhaustive project with pretty decent little breakdowns on each player. It was a good way to learn a bit about guys you hadn't watched much in the prior season.

Lists like this are whatever. Low level click-bait (never as bad as ESPN's which is so bad it should be banned from NBA fandom) at worst, and worth a few minutes of time during the doldrums of the late offseason. I'm reading some of these blurbs and wondering if whoever wrote it actually knows much about the player. But it's not offensively bad or anything.

I think we all know how pointless rankings can be the further you go down the list. I like Seth Parthnow's version at the athletic, where he puts players into tiers. That makes more sense to me. A ranked list like SI's just gets pretty silly and obnoxious when subjectively equal players get ranked 20 spots apart, making it seem like one is on a whole other level. Is Harrison Barnes (67) 28 spots "better" than Jonathan Isaac (95)? Am I supposed to care whether Norman Powell is 55 or 99 (he's 92 I guess). Maybe the ranking numbers makes for easier reading but it also makes for very silly implied arguments.

There's no such thing as a good top 100.

It's one thing if they lay out some kind of methodology but most of the time it seems very arbitrary

Any time you have a panel it'll look like that. A group *might* be more accurate in some context, but you'll almost by default remove consistency in doing so.

[RoxSteady]

What are we supposed to do here?

"Derrick White is ranked 93rd?? He's much closer to 87th!!!"

That's a more interesting topic than anything involving lebron, kobe, jordan, harden, kd, or luka....

That's fair. I come here for the one-liners but actually appreciate it much more when the GB is nuanced and informative.

[Ballerhogger]

Ben Simmons over Westbrook ? How ?

There's this thing called defense, and both you and your boy Russ haven't heard of it. If he stops going for the rebounds before the opponent lets it fly and keeps playing defense instead, then maybe you're onto something.

Give me break. He plays defense , he got the wizards to play in . He doesn’t need grab millions rebounds this year . He actually has great team around him , that can rebound . He can score . Ben can not , he has jumper . Deadly from mid range .