Nice quiz but I still can't believe that ESPN ranked Ja, DBook, KAT, and PG13 over Ice Trae like don't get me wrong they're all nice as hell but Trae literally had a 28.4/9.7 season average last season
Last season Trae became the second player in NBA history to lead the league in total points and total assists. However, he is a defensive liability and is coming off a sub-par post-season so he's pretty difficult to rank.
I definitely agree that the heat series was atrocious and severely affected Trae's narrative, although personally (definitely biased though) I feel that he's not so much more of a defensive liability than Ja that it justifies negating his offensive genius
Kyrie is way too low... media hates him even if he won MVP he wouldn't be top 15. Then again, ESPN lists somehow get worse each year. Also, plenty of guys like Wiggins, Cade, and Smart are too high. No way right now that Cade Cunningham is better than Shai. Jimmy is also too low
Also Lowry above Westbrook??? Russ beat him in all three major statistical categories last season, despite having one of the worst seasons of his career
The big difference is that Westbrook was the starting point guard of a lottery team and Lowry was the starting point guard of the first-seeded team in the East.
Got 79/100. I'll never understand why they put drafted players like Banchero on the list when he's never played a single NBA game. I understand it's all speculation, but I think that they should rank the players who have already played a full season.
The ESPN predictions were already wrong, but as usual, they look even worse now, though not necessarily at the fault of their analysts, rather some players falling short of expectations and some players exceeding expectations. Looking at the league now, it's clear that some things should have been changed around. For example:
- Luka should have been 2nd
- LeBron should have been lower
- Harden should be lower
- Kawhi should be WAYYYY lower
- Dame should be higher
- Donovan should be WAYYYY higher
- Klay should be lower
- Maxey should be higher
- SGA as usual goes underrated (WAY Higher)
- De'Aaron should be higher
- Haliburton should be higher
- Westbrook should be higher
- Paolo should be WAY higher
- Anfernee should be higher
- Markkanen was robbed, should be at least top 30
Hopefully my predictions last throughout the season :)
These lists are wrong on purpose. They're always close enough to seem reasonable and serious (they're not going to put Giannis at 30th), but there's plenty of purposefully controversial picks so that people will discuss and debate (on Twitter, Reddit, this comment section, etc.) and drive engagement.
For example, nobody with even a passing knowledge of the NBA/basketball could seriously rate Shai below Draymond or Barnes (before this season) for example.
- Luka should have been 2nd
- LeBron should have been lower
- Harden should be lower
- Kawhi should be WAYYYY lower
- Dame should be higher
- Donovan should be WAYYYY higher
- Klay should be lower
- Maxey should be higher
- SGA as usual goes underrated (WAY Higher)
- De'Aaron should be higher
- Haliburton should be higher
- Westbrook should be higher
- Paolo should be WAY higher
- Anfernee should be higher
- Markkanen was robbed, should be at least top 30
Hopefully my predictions last throughout the season :)
For example, nobody with even a passing knowledge of the NBA/basketball could seriously rate Shai below Draymond or Barnes (before this season) for example.