Top 40 Players for the 2019 NBA Season

[HurricaneDij39]

Or until he wins 2 Finals MVPs with 2 different teams.

Oh wait.

He did that.

Who cares how many regular season games he plays? He carried the Raptors to a title because he was the best player in the league last year.

In his eight-year career, he has played in 70 games just two times. Unacceptable for a player of his caliber. For his flaws (outside shooting) I'd still take Giannis over a guy who could get injured at an inopportune time.

 

[Mebert]

Gobert should not be behind Mitchell.

 

[Bart]

Or until he wins 2 Finals MVPs with 2 different teams.

Oh wait.

He did that.

Who cares how many regular season games he plays? He carried the Raptors to a title because he was the best player in the league last year.

He does have a point. If the Raptors can get the 2nd best record when Kawhi misses over 25% of the games then his team was a lot better than it appears. Maybe the problem with the Raptors in prior years was more about Casey than about the players. Not saying Kawhi isn't a top 3 player but he may not be as great as you might think considering how good his team was without him.

 

[bksballer89]

Gobert should not be behind Mitchell.

yes he should

 

[Mebert]

yes he should

Dribbling at the halfcourt for 18 seconds and driving for a highly contested bad shot has more value than I thought then.

Mitchell is an inefficient volume scorer, Gobert is the best defensive player in the NBA.

 

[bksballer89]

Dribbling at the halfcourt for 18 seconds and driving for a highly contested bad shot has more value than I thought then.

Spoke to James Harden....He agreed

 

[Mebert]

Spoke to James Harden....He agreed

Harden is a volume scorer, but he is not inefficient. Mitchell is not anything close to Harden

 

[bksballer89]

Harden is a volume scorer, but he is not inefficient. Mitchell is not anything close to Harden

Very similar actually. Harden is a 44% shooter in his career and Mitchell is at 43%. Have to think Mitchell shoots a career best % this year now that he finally got some real offensive talent surrounding him.....you know since Mr. Gobert couldn't do shit on offense and help him out

 

[tlance]

He does have a point. If the Raptors can get the 2nd best record when Kawhi misses over 25% of the games then his team was a lot better than it appears. Maybe the problem with the Raptors in prior years was more about Casey than about the players. Not saying Kawhi isn't a top 3 player but he may not be as great as you might think considering how good his team was without him.

Nah.

He also pretty much made Giannis his bitch when it mattered most.

Legacies are built on playoff performances. Giannis has not built his yet.

 

[Mebert]

Very similar actually. Harden is a 44% shooter in his career and Mitchell is at 43%. Have to think Mitchell shoots a career best % this year now that he finally got some real offensive talent surrounding him.....you know since Mr. Gobert couldn't do shit on offense and help him out

Harden has an effective field goal percentage of 54% Mithcell is 43.

Mitchell has more potential than Gobert, but he is not the better player yet.

 

[Bart]

Nah.

He also pretty much made Giannis his bitch when it mattered most.

Legacies are built on playoff performances. Giannis has not built his yet.

I wasn't necessarily meaning Giannis is better than him but I see where Cane brought up Giannis so you were referring to that. I was thinking Curry or Harden could be considered better. If Klay doesn't get injured and Golden State wins then Curry would be considered #1 by many. Even with Giannis, some of his supporting cast like Middleton and Bledsoe were disappointing that series, missing open shots. There was a wall around Giannis, if guys like Bledsoe don't make open shots your team is toast and what is Giannis suppose to do? It's a lot closer than you want to make it about to be, there is a lot of context involved.

 

[MHSL82]

Why should I do all the work?

Haha, just read the first whatever number you want and skip the rest. I think 39 is enough so I stopped there.

 

[Bolts]

Fox > Trae and Jamal Murray

Also Steph and Simmons should be higher.

 

[tlance]

I wasn't necessarily meaning Giannis is better than him but I see where Cane brought up Giannis so you were referring to that. I was thinking Curry or Harden could be considered better. If Klay doesn't get injured and Golden State wins then Curry would be considered #1 by many. Even with Giannis, some of his supporting cast like Middleton and Bledsoe were disappointing that series, missing open shots. There was a wall around Giannis, if guys like Bledsoe don't make open shots your team is toast and what is Giannis suppose to do? It's a lot closer than you want to make it about to be, there is a lot of context involved.

I agree it is close. Been saying that all year.

Not much separating the top 7 or 8.

But penalizing Kawhi for resting during meaningless regular season games so he could dominate the playoffs is a bit silly.

 

[WiggyRuss]

• Luka is missing.
• Vuc too low.
• Steph too low.
• Jrue and Khris too high.
• Too much love for the Jazz in general.
• Kawhi is not #1 until he plays in 70 regular season games, IMO.
• Embiid too high, but ya'll know I'm biased on that one.

good call

i actually had Luka in there---- but thought i had him too high at one point, meant to put him back in and forgot.

Jrue and Khris are fairly high- that is true--- I think they get some extra points in todays game since their skill sets are so important in todays game

I mean, i thought about the top 3 the most--- and it came down to- if i had to bet my life on winning the title this year who would i pick--- and it was Kawhi

Embiid does have some emotional issues no doubt- but the talent is just ridiculous.

 

[WiggyRuss]

Oof.

I want to say Booker is too low.

But, there isn't a single name ahead of him that I can definitively say he's better than.

However, isn't he a taller version of Murray, who you have way to high?

Simmons is too low.

Zion would not make my list until he actually plays a few games.

Booker is def a hard guy to rank.

Murray is a tough guy to rank too. He is def. the 2nd best player on a Nuggets team that won a TON of games last year and will likely win a TON of games this year too. Like Middleton- if you are the 2nd best player on a team that is going to win 60 games or close to it- i gotta give you some extra points.

Simmons is probably too low- but you gotta knock guys that cant shoot in todays league where it is so important.

 

[WiggyRuss]

Chris Paul is old, injury prone and expensive, but i saw some stat where he had some of the best defensive metrics in the league, and he can still shoot and distribute.

I would hate--- HATE- to take that contract- but if you arent looking at the contract- Chris Paul is still a very very good NBA player.

 

[bksballer89]

Chris Paul is old, injury prone and expensive, but i saw some stat where he had some of the best defensive metrics in the league, and he can still shoot and distribute.

I would hate--- HATE- to take that contract- but if you arent looking at the contract- Chris Paul is still a very very good NBA player.

I agree. When healthy, he is a top 30ish player.

 

[Sparhawk]

Very similar actually. Harden is a 44% shooter in his career and Mitchell is at 43%. Have to think Mitchell shoots a career best % this year now that he finally got some real offensive talent surrounding him.....you know since Mr. Gobert couldn't do shit on offense and help him out

You have to factor in FTs, which makes Harden a much more efficient player.
Other than the order, I like the list....

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

He does have a point. If the Raptors can get the 2nd best record when Kawhi misses over 25% of the games then his team was a lot better than it appears. Maybe the problem with the Raptors in prior years was more about Casey than about the players. Not saying Kawhi isn't a top 3 player but he may not be as great as you might think considering how good his team was without him.

Kawhi sat out 22 games last season. Of those games, 13 were against teams that missed the playoffs and another 3 were against teams that had the 7 or 8 seed in the playoffs (Clips, Pistons, Magic). They went 4-5 against playoff teams.

For the most part, the Raptors picked great times to keep Kawhi out and were fortunate that a lot of back-to-backs had at least one crappy team. The Raptors were also without Lowry for 17 games (only a handful of which coincided with games Kawhi missed), Siakam's best run of play didn't come until after the new year and were also without Valanciunas for 2 months before they traded him which left them even thinner. Kawhi made up for all of that when he played during the season. Their record is far closer to .500 without his contributions.