Predict each positions top 5 by season's end

[LoneyROY7]

Who do y'all think will be the best 5 at their position by the end of the 2014-15 season?

My list -

PG:
1) Westbrook
2) Paul
3) Curry
4) Rose
5) Irving/Wall

Honorable Mention: Dragic/Bledsoe

SG:
1) Harden
2) Wade
3) Klay Thompson
4) Ellis
5) Derozan/Beal

Honorable Mention: Kobe

SF:
1) Bron
2) KD
3) Melo
4) Kawhi Leonard
5) Chandler Parsons

Honorable Mention: Paul George when healthy

PF:
1) Blake
2) AD
3) Love
4) Aldridge
5) Nowitzki

Honorable Mention: The Boshtrich

C:
1) Howard
2) Cousins
3) Noah
4) M. Gasol
5) Drummond

Honorable Mention: DeAndre Jordan

SG is still super thin and PG is loaded.

[kurple]

PG:
Parker
Paul
Curry
Wall
Lawson

SG:
Westbrook (Jackson starting at PG)
Harden
Klay
Wade
DeRozan

SF:
LeBron
Durant
Melo
George (i still have a hope he comes back for the playoffs)
Leonard/Gallo

PF:
Griffin
Dirk
Davis
LMA
Bosh
(i did not forget Love)

C:
Noah
Marc
Howard
Drummond
Cousins
(i feel like i forgot someone)

[LoneyROY7]

PG:
Parker
Paul
Curry
Wall
Lawson

SG:
Westbrook (Jackson starting at PG)
Harden
Klay
Wade
DeRozan

SF:
LeBron
Durant
Melo
George (i still have a hope he comes back for the playoffs)
Leonard/Gallo

PF:
Griffin
Dirk
Davis
LMA
Bosh
(i did not forget Love)

C:
Noah
Marc
Howard
Drummond
Cousins
(i feel like i forgot someone)

Kind of a crazy list, but I like it. Not sure about Dirk being better than AD though...and I have faith in Rose coming back strong. I don't Westbrook will ever be considered a SG.

[Cone]

westbrook
curry
paul
wall
rondo

harden
ellis
wade
derozan
klay

lbj
kd
melo
kawhi
parsons

griffin
ad
dirk
lma
bosh

dwight
cousins
Drummond
noah
gasol

[MP.Trey]

I'll bite


PG
Westbrook
Paul
Curry
Lillard
Rose/Irving

SG
Harden
Klay
DeRozan
Ellis
Kobe

SF
LeBron
Durant
Kawhi
Melo
George/Parsons

PF
Griffin
Unibrow
LMA
Love
Dirk

C
Dwight
Cousins
Noah
Gasol
Drummond

[nathanjizzle]

pg

rose
curry
westbrook
kyrie
lillard.

[ArbitraryWater]

We have an "official" thread for this: http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=354784

[Smook A.]

PG
1. Russell Westbrook
2. Chris Paul
3. Stephen Curry
4. Derrick Rose
5. John Wall

HM - Kyrie Irving

SG
1. James Harden
2. Klay Thompson
3. Dwyane Wade
4. Kobe Bryant
5. DeMar DeRozan

HM - Monta Ellis

SF
1. LeBron James
2. Kevin Durant
3. Carmelo Anthony
4. Kawhi Leonard
5. Chandler Parsons

HM - Gordon Hayward/Rudy Gay

PF
1. Blake Griffin
2. Anthony Davis
3. Kevin Love
4. LaMarcus Aldridge
5. Dirk Nowitzki

HM - Chris Bosh

C
1. Dwight Howard
2. DeMarcus Cousins
3. Joakim Noah
4. Andre Drummond
5. Marc Gasol

HM - Al Jefferson

[kurple]

how come i'm the only one even mentioning Parker?

since when did Lillard, Wall, Irving etc get better than Tony Parker?

[Cocaine80s]

people really think Griffin>Davis this season?


The Brow is winning mvp this season

[Milbuck]

people really think Griffin>Davis this season?


The Brow is winning mvp this season
It's not that controversial, it could go either way. Blake took his game to another level with that jumper..if he takes another step forward, he could be a legit 26/11/4 type player. Which on a contending team, would give him the MVP imo.

[navy]

people really think Griffin>Davis this season?


The Brow is winning mvp this season
His team wont have the record.

[navy]

how come i'm the only one even mentioning Parker?

since when did Lillard, Wall, Irving etc get better than Tony Parker?
Parker wont have the minutes, stats, or impact if last year is anything to go by.

[LoneyROY7]

people really think Griffin>Davis this season?


The Brow is winning mvp this season

http://media.giphy.com/media/IkQfpkKlGcFhu/giphy.gif

[Milbuck]

how come i'm the only one even mentioning Parker?

since when did Lillard, Wall, Irving etc get better than Tony Parker?
We're projecting into the end of this season..Tony Parker is declining, all the other 3 are improving. Also Kawhi's gonna have a much bigger role going forward, less of their offense will go through TP. It's not a stretch to say any of those 3 will be better than Parker come April-May. Dragic too.

[ArbitraryWater]

We're projecting into the end of this season..Tony Parker is declining, all the other 3 are improving. It's not a stretch to say any of those 3 will be better than Parker come April-May. Dragic too.

Since?

Had his best season ever in 2013 :confusedshrug:

[Milbuck]

Since?

Had his best season ever in 2013 :confusedshrug:
And this past season was worse than that season :confusedshrug:

He looked clearly worse this past year than he did in 2012-13 when he was getting legitimate MVP consideration. Still easily a top 10 PG but not some clear-cut top 5 PG like the big 3 of CP3/Westbrook/Curry. And he's 32, will be 33 during the playoffs. While Lillard, Wall, Irving are all All-Star caliber players already and haven't even turned 25. Another year of improvement and experience and it's really not that out of the question to say at least one of them surpasses Parker.

[LoneyROY7]

Since?

Had his best season ever in 2013 :confusedshrug:

Debatable. He was a beast in '08-'09. And his production dropped considerably last season.

What's stopping it from dropping further considering Kawhi's emergence?

[kurple]

when will ish learn

Irving, Lillard, Wall, Dragic have done nothing to be in the same tier as Tony Parker

just because Pop is smart and limits him minutes :facepalm or is it because Irving was ASG mvp? Or because Lillard hit a game winner against Houston? Or Dragic that almost made the playoffs?

[kurple]

Debatable. He was a beast in '08-'09. And his production dropped considerably last season.

What's stopping it from dropping further considering Kawhi's emergence?
because they need him to win basketball games. something parker have done his entire career

and he scored 17ppg on 50% from the floor playing less than 30 minutes a game

[ArbitraryWater]

when will ish learn

Irving, Lillard, Wall, Dragic have done nothing to be in the same tier as Tony Parker

just because Pop is smart and limits him minutes :facepalm or is it because Irving was ASG mvp? Or because Lillard hit a game winner against Houston? Or Dragic that almost made the playoffs?

Seriously.. Parker is still pretty clearly better. Parker on the Cavs and Irving on the Spurs = Cavs are the Championship favorite..

He's just playing within Pop's System and Management of the Team....

He didn't even Play 30+ MPG last year. NOBODY on the Spurs did.

[Smook A.]

Since?

Had his best season ever in 2013 :confusedshrug:
That was the 2012-13 season. Easily his best season since 2008-09 when he averaged 22/7/3 on 50%. In the 2013-14 season, it was obvious that his game had regressed a little compared to the season before that. Part of the reason why he put up less numbers that year was because he played less minutes (29 mpg) and not to mention he looked a little less quicker.

[LoneyROY7]

when will ish learn

Irving, Lillard, Wall, Dragic have done nothing to be in the same tier as Tony Parker

just because Pop is smart and limits him minutes :facepalm or is it because Irving was ASG mvp? Or because Lillard hit a game winner against Houston? Or Dragic that almost made the playoffs?

I'll admit that Parker completely slipped my mind when I put together my list, but I still believe the guys I listed have a chance at the end of the season to be better players.

Westbook, Paul, and Curry. All three give HUGE production from the PG position.

Rose. If healthy he has the chance to return to the top tier of those aforementioned 3.

Irving/Wall/Dragic/Lillard (forget to mention Lillard in my OP). I will say that Parker is currently better than all of those PGs...BUT all four are young and have the potential to surpass him by season's end.

[JohnMax]

Parker sucked last year because he did not get rest over the Summer. Ginobli did and he was much better.

[Milbuck]

when will ish learn

Irving, Lillard, Wall, Dragic have done nothing to be in the same tier as Tony Parker

just because Pop is smart and limits him minutes :facepalm or is it because Irving was ASG mvp? Or because Lillard hit a game winner against Houston? Or Dragic that almost made the playoffs?
Dragic last year was better than Parker through both stats and the eye test. Phoenix was a playoff caliber team with him and Bledsoe, and was still in the running when Bledsoe went down and Dragic lead them solo. Unfortunately Dragic didn't have the luxury of playing with Duncan, Kawhi, Ginobili, Diaw, Belinelli, Green, Mills, Splitter, etc on one of the GOAT offensive and defensive systems with arguably the best coach ever.

He was also screwed by trying to make the playoffs as the sole star for a huge chunk of the season, in a conference with cores of Durant/Westbrook/Ibaka, CP3/Blake/DJ, Lillard/Aldridge/Batum/Matthews, Harden/Dwight/Parsons, Curry/Thompson/Iggy/Lee/Bogut, Dirk/Ellis, Zbo/Gasol/Conley, etc. And he came pretty damn close.

What exactly did Tony Parker do last season that leads you to believe he was clearly better than Dragic? Was it when he got raped by Westbrook in the conference finals so badly he got benched? Or when he went 0 for his first 10 shots in the closeout game of the finals and San Antonio still blew out Miami like he didn't even matter?
Seriously.. Parker is still pretty clearly better. Parker on the Cavs and Irving on the Spurs = Cavs are the Championship favorite..

He's just playing within Pop's System and Management of the Team....

He didn't even Play 30+ MPG last year. NOBODY on the Spurs did.
Jesus christ. First of all, there's a reason he didn't play 30 minutes a game...there's a reason Pop rests his guys. It's because they're either A) too old, or B) injury prone. Don't try to tell me that Parker last year would've been able to handle the 36-38 mpg that high usage stars get.

And did we watch the same San Antonio team when they were at their best? This isn't me exaggerating or attacking Parker unfairly - they literally looked better when Parker wasn't playing his game, over dribbling and stifling ball movement. When he took a back seat to the rest of the team's game, that's when the team thrived.

This is another instance of people taking a name and propping it up like crazy. What exactly did Parker do last year that was so incredible he has clear-cut top 5 status?

[ArbitraryWater]

Dragic last year was better than Parker through both stats and the eye test. Phoenix was a playoff caliber team with him and Bledsoe, and was still in the running when Bledsoe went down and Dragic lead them solo. Unfortunately Dragic didn't have the luxury of playing with Duncan, Kawhi, Ginobili, Diaw, Belinelli, Green, Mills, Splitter, etc on one of the GOAT offensive and defensive systems with arguably the best coach ever.

He was also screwed by trying to make the playoffs as the sole star for a huge chunk of the season, in a conference with cores of Durant/Westbrook/Ibaka, CP3/Blake/DJ, Lillard/Aldridge/Batum/Matthews, Harden/Dwight/Parsons, Curry/Thompson/Iggy/Lee/Bogut, Dirk/Ellis, Zbo/Gasol/Conley, etc. And he came pretty damn close.

What exactly did Tony Parker do last season that leads you to believe he was clearly better than Dragic? Was it when he got raped by Westbrook in the conference finals so badly he got benched? Or when he went 0 for his first 10 shots in the closeout game of the finals and San Antonio still blew out Miami like he didn't even matter?
Jesus christ. First of all, there's a reason he didn't play 30 minutes a game...there's a reason Pop rests his guys. It's because they're either A) too old, or B) injury prone. Don't try to tell me that Parker last year would've been able to handle the 36-38 mpg that high usage stars get.

And did we watch the same San Antonio team when they were at their best? This isn't me exaggerating or attacking Parker unfairly - they literally looked better when Parker wasn't playing his game, over dribbling and stifling ball movement. When he took a back seat to the rest of the team's game, that's when the team thrived.

This is another instance of people taking a name and propping it up like crazy. What exactly did Parker do last year that was so incredible he has clear-cut top 5 status?

What did Kawhi do or will do this year?

He will be top 10 ability wise, but you can't show all of it off under the current Spurs...

And no, that's not the reason.. Reason is the Spurs are loaded and Pop likes his chances with everyone getting a cut of the cake.

PS: How many more times you gonna call out Jesus?

[Milbuck]

What did Kawhi do or will do this year?

He will be top 10 ability wise, but you can't show all of it off under the current Spurs...

And no, that's not the reason.. Reason is the Spurs are loaded and Pop likes his chances with everyone getting a cut of the cake.

PS: How many more times you gonna call out Jesus?
Well he got this meaningless little award....finals MVP. And his coach has explicitly stated he's gonna run more and more of the offense through Kawhi going forward since that finals series.

So understandably, Parker's production (also considering he's 32 will be 33 at the end of the season) should go up right?

But it's not even about Kawhi...Dragic was just a better player than Parker last season whether we take context into account (like we should) or not.

The Spurs are winning a championship with Dragic there last season. And Dragic is sure as hell putting up a better fight against Westbrook than the pathetic shit Parker brought.