Yeah, should've mentioned I had Draymond as a 4/PF. You're correct he's most impactful as a small-ball five, but I ranked full time bigs/centers. Otherwise the list could also include AD, JJJ, Chet, etc.
Iztok, thanks! Really interesting. What about ranking big man/PG pairings on the offensive side? On defense, individual rim protection shines, but as you point out, most of these bigs aren’t going to be offensive hubs, and need to be set up. In the playoffs, that pairing is going to dictate how valuable the big is, and how hard it is to defend the PG. having a viable vertical threat complicates the defensive scheme and makes it much harder to defend Doncic, etc.
I find the pairing of Ayton and Doncic to be fascinating to watch next season. Ayton's play has never seemed to live up to his potential. Maybe this move will be good for him.
I really hope the Derrick Lively can stay healthy this year. I have really high hopes for him as part of the future of the Mavs!
Your rankings are very interesting. It will be fun the look back at these as the year progresses and see how these players rank at mid-season.
I had not seriously thought about ranking players the way you just did. I found your list interesting and am starting to organize a list of my own to see how I would rank them.
Different teams and schemes require different assessments of players skills and strengths.
I thought your list was great! I’ve just been thinking about it to see how I would rank them myself. Quite a challenge!!
The East's centers are a huge drop off from the West's -- possibly the biggest delta between East and West of any position group. It's really striking when you try to list the top 10.
I've got: 1. KAT. 2. Embiid* 3. Porzingis 4. Jarrett Allen 5. M. Turner. 6. Bam. 7. Vucevic. 8. Duren. 9. Okungwu. 10. Wendell Carter. 11. Poetl. 12. ... Uhmm ... Nick Claxton? Kel'el Ware? ... The drop from Embiid is huge and if (as the asterisk implies) he doesn't fully recover and play, the second best center would be a guy who averages fewer than eight rebounds and misses 25-30 games a year.
Yeah, should've mentioned I had Draymond as a 4/PF. You're correct he's most impactful as a small-ball five, but I ranked full time bigs/centers. Otherwise the list could also include AD, JJJ, Chet, etc.
Thanks for the fun! I’m curious - Draymond Green’s most impactful play is at center. Why no mention?
Have a good time at Eurobasket!
Iztok, thanks! Really interesting. What about ranking big man/PG pairings on the offensive side? On defense, individual rim protection shines, but as you point out, most of these bigs aren’t going to be offensive hubs, and need to be set up. In the playoffs, that pairing is going to dictate how valuable the big is, and how hard it is to defend the PG. having a viable vertical threat complicates the defensive scheme and makes it much harder to defend Doncic, etc.
Rudy is top 3 without question imo
Good Summer reading. Thanks Iztok!
I find the pairing of Ayton and Doncic to be fascinating to watch next season. Ayton's play has never seemed to live up to his potential. Maybe this move will be good for him.
I really hope the Derrick Lively can stay healthy this year. I have really high hopes for him as part of the future of the Mavs!
Your rankings are very interesting. It will be fun the look back at these as the year progresses and see how these players rank at mid-season.
Yeah revisiting the rankings later in the season sounds like fun.
By very interesting ranking - where do you see biggest difference as per your view? Who is too high/too low?
I had not seriously thought about ranking players the way you just did. I found your list interesting and am starting to organize a list of my own to see how I would rank them.
Different teams and schemes require different assessments of players skills and strengths.
I thought your list was great! I’ve just been thinking about it to see how I would rank them myself. Quite a challenge!!
Where did you rank Myles Turner?
I only ranked West bigs. But it would be tricky. Probably would be somewhere between 7-11 range in my list
The East's centers are a huge drop off from the West's -- possibly the biggest delta between East and West of any position group. It's really striking when you try to list the top 10.
I've got: 1. KAT. 2. Embiid* 3. Porzingis 4. Jarrett Allen 5. M. Turner. 6. Bam. 7. Vucevic. 8. Duren. 9. Okungwu. 10. Wendell Carter. 11. Poetl. 12. ... Uhmm ... Nick Claxton? Kel'el Ware? ... The drop from Embiid is huge and if (as the asterisk implies) he doesn't fully recover and play, the second best center would be a guy who averages fewer than eight rebounds and misses 25-30 games a year.