Your top 10 for next season

[juju151111]

Whats your official top 10 prediction for next season.

1. Lebron
2. Curry
3. Kevin durant
4. Paul George
5. Davis
6. Kawhi Leonard
7. Irving
8. Jimmy Butler
9. Harden
10. Towns

[tpols]

Kevin Durant
Steph Curry
Lebron James
Russell Westbrook
Kawhi Leonard
Paul George
Chris Paul
Anthony Davis
James Harden
Kyrie Irving

[feyki]

Kevin Durant
Steph Curry
Lebron James
Russell Westbrook
Kawhi Leonard
Paul George
Chris Paul
Anthony Davis
James Harden
Kyrie Irving

Same .

[Spurs5Rings2014]

Leonard
Westbrook
Curry
Durant
LeBron
George
Paul
Harden
Davis
Irving

[Bankaii]

Leonard
Westbrook
Curry
Durant
LeBron
George
Paul
Harden
Davis
Irving
I know this is all subjective, but your list is just dumb:roll:

[SexSymbol]

Curry
LeBron
Leonard
Westbrook
Durant
George
Irving
Paul if he's healthy
Davis if he's healthy
Drummond

[NumberSix]

lol @ dudes having Steph Carried as #1

[ArbitraryWater]

James
Davis
Leonard
Curry
Cousins
Griffin
Westbrook
Durant
George
Harden

:D

[CTbasketball92]

1. LeBron James
2. Kevin Durant
3. Steph. Curry
4. Russell Westbrook
5. CP3
6. Anthony Davis
7. Kawhi Leonard
8. James Harden
9. Paul George
10. Kyrie Irving/Demarcus Cousins/Blake Griffin.

For number 10, I'll revisit in december/january

[SilkkTheShocker]

1. LeBron




--------------------
who gives f.uck

[Velocirap31]

1. James
2. Westbrook
3. Anthony Davis
4. Durant
5. Curry
6. Harden
7. Paul George
8. Leonard
9. CP3
10. Cousins

I made my list based on cumulative stats. I think Lebron and Westbrook will have the biggest stats across the board. Leonard could go higher since he'll probably have the best defensive stats.

[Bankaii]

Lebron
Steph
KD
PG13
Westbrook
Kawhi
AD
CP3
Harden
Cousins

Kyrie is tricky for me. If he stays healthy and at his playoffs level from last year he'll definitely be top 10.

[Milbuck]

Curry
Lebron
KD
Westbrook
Davis
PG13
CP3
Kawhi
Giannis
KAT

[NBAGOAT]

Lebron
Curry
Durant
Westbrook
Paul George
Davis
Kawhi
Paul
Harden
Griffin

[BeastMode24]

1. Curry
2. Durant
3. Harden
4. Westbrook
5. Anthony Davis
6. Kawhi
7. DeMarcus Cousins
8. LeBron
9. Kyrie
10. Paul George

[Nash]

1. Lee Brown James
2. Durant
3. Curry
4. Irving

[Naero]

1. Kawhi Leonard

I'm going to be the contrarian with my list; that starts off with one of the more fringe BITW picks in Kawhi Leonard.

Many are falling asleep on not just his coalesced impact as a back-to-back DPoY and one of the most offensively efficient players in the game, but they're also underestimating his trajectory—the best predictor we have for the future. Let's overview it now.


2011-12 - Rotational rookie.
2012-13 - Serviceable second-year role-player and one of the most impactful Spurs in the NBA Finals.
2013-14 - sidekick to Duncan and Finals MVP awardee.
2014-15 - Defensive Player of the Year and All-Star Game snubee (IMHO).
2015-16 - MVP runner-up.


What speaks more resoundingly than his already-sterling production is how much of his potential is untapped. As one of the most (putatively) humble players in the game, however, we can be assured that he isn't complacent about where he is and that he'll continue to improve.

With the retirement of Spurs and NBA Power Forward GOAT in Tim Duncan, Leonard knows the mantle of the team-leader that he's already been transitioning into and will hold back less as such. Impact-wise, I expect him to be the best; but reputation-wise, that is always latent and he most likely won't receive recognition for it until he shows longevity.

2. Stephen Curry

Sadly, his otherwise-Legendary season was blemished by how sharply he faltered in his playoffs, as he was injury-plagued early on and has been arrhythmic—something that all the delicacies of his game, such as his marksmanship and ball-handling, can not afford—even after he physically recovered. The hype has been slowed down enough that many are even questioning what was unequivocally his titled in the best of the world, especially after the past title-holder in LeBron James produced one of the best NBA Finals performance in NBA history to upset the unanimous MVP's team.

Unlike the more superficial-minded fans, however, I'm not letting the recency fallacy cloud my perspective on Stephen Curry. No matter how decisive the NBA Finals is, it's still just one seven-game series out of four in a full-playoffs run and off the coattails of an 82-game season, and he clearly proved that he was the best player in the game before his rhythm ended up disbalanced by injuries in the playoffs completely.

I expect him to recover and return even more motivated than next season, so I expect him to be a close second to the aforementioned Kawhi Leonard; that is as far as he will peak, however, because with the integration of another ball-dominant superstar in Kevin Durant, common sense dictates that he will receive less touches.

3. Russell Westbrook

With Kevin Durant's controversial departure, the buzz over Russell Westbrook has centered more around his eventual destination than his upcoming season; in my case, I'll focus more on his improved productivity and conjecture that he will remain with OKC all season when doing so.

With a nearly season-wide-sidelined Kevin Durant in 2014-15, Russell Westbrook started to whiff Oscar Roberton's legendary triple-double-average season, and he was arguably the team's leader—even if self-assertedly so and at his team's detriment at times—when OKC was knocking on the door of a championship.

In a contract-expiring year and one where he's going to be a bigger mainstay for the team, expect his greatness to resonate even more and possibly threaten Oscar Robert's triple-double-average season.

4. LeBron

With one of the GOAT finals, the four-time MVP and now-three-time Finals MVP has proven that he still as a strong case for the BITW at peak value and when it boils down to a playoffs run.

So why is he ranked this relatively lowly?

As I mentioned in Curry's write-up, I don't account for a sample size of a season—regardless of their implications—of a season; I account for the entire season, where LeBron wasn't consistently the best. He's coasted too much in the regular season to have a tenable case as the best player in the world in the seasonal entirety; I only expect more continuance of that trend while he's on his physical downslope where he needs to manage his energy more in order to do his otherwise-irreplicable playoffs-dominant runs.

Some will play semantics and try to equate the peak potential to being the best in the world, but that is a different discussion than who is actually playing like it consistently. It is possible for one to outperform the BITW and still not take that throne, which is why I still considered LeBron the BITW even after his disgraceful 2011 NBA Finals disappearance.

5. Kevin Durant

Yes, I understand the flak behind his decision; it's incomparable to what LeBron did, and he's understandably lost a lot of respect for jumping on the bandwagon of the very team that eliminated him—one that wouldn't have if Durant himself didn't falter in Game 5 and 6 of that series.

From a basketball perspective, however, it doesn't change the fact that he's still one of the best in the game. He has been a top-three player for many years, but he will need to cede up much of his production now that he's playing in a more ball-movement-balanced system and is losing many of the superstar touches to Stephen Curry.

6. Anthony Davis

He was my expectant BITW moving into last season, as some may remember; needless to say, he has disappointed those lofty expectations. He's had his moments (http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201602210DET.html), but he's overall languished as he's tried to acclimate to a new offensive system—a questionable one at that as it pertains to molding his role in it—and was injury-riddled once again.

I expect a resurgent Anthony Davis; but as long as he's acquiescing to coach Alvin Gentry and while he has yet to prove health stability, the BITW discussions are still adjourned for him.

7. DeMarcous Cousins

8. Chris Paul

9. Paul George

10. Blake Griffin

(I don't expect too much hair-splitting controversy for 7-10, however, so I didn't feel the need to back up my selections with write-ups for those.)

[Smoke117]

Kyrie isn't even a top 5 pg in the league, but he's top 10? Jesus christ you guys are idiots. :facepalm

[Naero]

Kyrie isn't even a top 5 pg in the league, but he's top 10? Jesus christ you guys are idiots. :facepalm

Like I said, prisoner-of-the-moment phenomenon and recency fallacy. :facepalm There are some who seriously consider Kyrie Irving a better player than Stephen Curry just because he outperformed him in the NBA Finals.

[CTbasketball92]

Like I said, prisoner-of-the-moment phenomenon and recency fallacy. :facepalm There are some who seriously consider Kyrie Irving a better player than Stephen Curry just because he outperformed him in the NBA Finals.

Though I'd never say Irving is better than Curry, westbrook or CP3, i think you might be underselling what he did this postseason. He just had a playoff run that easily rivals any other guard's postseason over the last 7 or so years. Wall, Lillard and Lowry have yet to come close. Him and LeBron literally hero-balled their way to victory over history's greatest team. It's a huge, huge deal. Hard to understate, honestly.

As for your rankings. If you're just projecting, i can understand them. But I just don't see Kawhi being the league's best player. Don't see the true take-over scoring ability that KD has, and KD is also a very good defender when locked-in, and he can initiate an offense better.

Curry at number 2 is completely fine. All I know is that no one in the top 10 besides LeBron is capable of carrying a team the way he can and none of them what he just did this postseason. No one better to have on your team if you want to win, and to me, that will be the case until someone outplays him in both the regular season and postseason.

[Naero]

Though I'd never say Irving is better than Curry, westbrook or CP3, i think you might be underselling what he did this postseason. He just had a playoff run that easily rivals any other guard's postseason over the last 7 or so years. Wall, Lillard and Lowry have yet to come close. Him and LeBron literally hero-balled their way to victory over history's greatest team. It's a huge, huge deal. Hard to understate, honestly.

I agree, and he's honestly enhanced his legacy for me. While it was obviously a sidekick ring, I'm still not going to take it with a grain of salt when looking at his resume for the same rationale as Kobe's 2001 ring when he served as Shaq's robin; he was clearly the sidekick, but the team wouldn't have won if both him and the Alpha Male didn't play at an ATG level.

I wasn't trying to downplay what he did by any means; rather, I was just trying to disabuse the notion that he deserves to outrank Curry

[Smoke117]

Like I said, prisoner-of-the-moment phenomenon and recency fallacy. :facepalm There are some who seriously consider Kyrie Irving a better player than Stephen Curry just because he outperformed him in the NBA Finals.

One guy has him over CP3 too. :lol The Clippers would have completely fallen apart if it was Kyrie instead of CP3 who was left carrying the Clippers after Blake went down.

[tpols]

honestly dont know if kyrie is top 10 from a regular season perspective.. like carrying a team through the grind always doing the little things night in and night out to win.. but he's top 10 in terms of playoffs, because in any given series / game he can blow up more than those consistent, versatile guys, and you gotta give some weight to that when evaluating him.

[CTbasketball92]

[QUOTE=Naero]I agree, and he's honestly enhanced his legacy for me. While it was obviously a sidekick ring, I'm still not going to take it with a grain of salt when looking at his resume for the same rationale as Kobe's 2001 ring when he served as Shaq's robin; he was clearly the sidekick, but the team wouldn't have won if both him and the Alpha Male didn't play at an ATG level.

I wasn't trying to downplay what he did by any means; rather, I was just trying to disabuse the notion that he deserves to outrank Curry

[Rocketswin2013]

Leonard
Westbrook
Curry
Durant
LeBron
George
Paul
Harden
Davis
Irving
jesus christ :facepalm

[Rocketswin2013]

Kevin Durant
Steph Curry
Lebron James
Russell Westbrook
Kawhi Leonard
Paul George
Chris Paul
Anthony Davis
James Harden
Kyrie Irving
kevin durant is the nba's best player? really?

[CelticGangster]

LeThick
Russell
Kawhi
LD
CP3
Anthony Davis
Dame
Isaiah Thomas
Klay
Dray

[tpols]

kevin durant is the nba's best player? really?

i like the fit with golden state a hell of a lot more than okc .. and he will still get first option touches.. should see much better efficiency than the past few years.. Lebron is getting older and isnt going to be as thirsty after winning.. this is a prediction thread.

[Rocketswin2013]

i like the fit with golden state a hell of a lot more than okc .. and he will still get first option touches.. should see much better efficiency than the past few years.. Lebron is getting older and isnt going to be as thirsty after winning.. this is a prediction thread.
i figured that.

[CTbasketball92]

i like the fit with golden state a hell of a lot more than okc .. and he will still get first option touches.. should see much better efficiency than the past few years.. Lebron is getting older and isnt going to be as thirsty after winning.. this is a prediction thread.

Really interesting stuff. I think KD might just turn in a historically good 2016-2017. He'll get more open looks from three than he'll even know what to do with, and the lanes will be wide open. He finishes like 73% of his shots at the basket, so I can only imagine that percentage will get even higher.

[WolfGang]

Regular Season:
1.Russell Godbrook
?.Anthony Davis
?.Paul George
?.Lebron James
?.James Harden
K. Leonard
Big Cousins
Kevin Durant
Draymond Green

Playoffs/Finals:
1. Lebron James
2. Russell Godbrook
3. Kevin Durant
4. Draymond Green
5. Steph Curry

[Prime_Shaq]

1. KD
2. LeBron
3. Curry
4. Westbrook
5. Kawhi
6. CP3
7. AD
8. PG
9. Harden
10. Cousins

[HenryGarfunkle]

KD
LeBron
Leonard
George
Westbrook
Harden
CP3
Davis
Cousins
Lillard

HM: Kyrie, KAT, Griffin, Curry

[RRR3]

IDK how long LBJ will continue to be amazing. Curry certainly was better than him last year but IDK.


1. KD/ZVC/LBJ
4. CP3/WB
5. WB/CP3
6. Kawhi
7. AD
8. Harden
9. George
10. Kyrie (not even sure he's top 20 based on last season BUT I think there's a good chance he becomes a superstar next year so I'll put him here)

[AintNoSunshine]

Warriors arguably has 4 of the top 10 guys in the league. They better win 70+ games and the title.

[G-train]

In terms of regular season stats:
RWB
Harden
AD
PG
DMC
Lillard
Lebron
Durant
Curry
Leonard

[WolfGang]

In terms of regular season stats:
RWB
Harden
AD
PG
DMC
Lillard
Lebron
Durant
Curry
Leonard

I like this list.

[CTbasketball92]

Warriors arguably has 4 of the top 10 guys in the league. They better win 70+ games and the title.

I love Klay and Draymond, but neither are better than people like Paul George or Lamarcus Aldridge or John Wall. Klay might be, but I haven't seen enough to put him anywhere but the top 15. Draygod is top 16-20 imo.

[Young X]

Draymond Green at least based off his effort last season is top 10 player.

I don't know how things will unfold next season with the new situation but impact wise there are not 10 players better than him in the league right now.

Alot of y'all lists are trash.

[plowking]

Draymond Green at least based off his effort last season is top 10 player.

I don't know how things will unfold next season with the new situation but impact wise there are not 10 players better than him in the league right now.

Alot of y'all lists are trash.

There are more than 10 players better than Draymond. Just because he plays on the best team, doesn't mean he is top 10.

Seriously... I'm not sure if I'd take him on my team over guys like Drummond, let alone even better players like Griffin, Harden, Davis, etc.

[Young X]

There are more than 10 players better than Draymond. Just because he plays on the best team, doesn't mean he is top 10.

Seriously... I'm not sure if I'd take him on my team over guys like Drummond, let alone even better players like Griffin, Harden, Davis, etc.There are more than 10 OFFENSIVE players better than him.

Factoring in defense? And doing things that help your team WIN? There are barely 10 players better than him.

He's the best defender in the league. He gets 10 boards a game. He's can pass at a high level. He can score. He's a triple double machine. And he does the little things like hustle, set good screens, etc. at a high level.

[CTbasketball92]

Draymond Green at least based off his effort last season is top 10 player.

I don't know how things will unfold next season with the new situation but impact wise there are not 10 players better than him in the league right now.

Alot of y'all lists are trash.

I like Green, but I honestly think he's Lamar Odom in the best situation ever. He's not better than Dame Lillard, John Wall, PG, Andre Drummond ... etc. I don't even know that he's better than Jimmy Butler. When Green has a bad game, no one really notices and there aren't stories about it. To me, that's sort of a tell-tale sign that you're nowhere close to superstar status.

[plowking]

There are more than 10 OFFENSIVE players better than him.

Factoring in defense? And doing things that help your team WIN? There are barely 10 players better than him.

He's the best defender in the league. He gets 10 boards a game. He's can pass at a high level. He can score. He's a triple double machine. And he does the little things like hustle, set good screens, etc. at a high level.

He isn't the best defender in the league. He can't score, unless he is left wide open, which is generally the case on the GSW team. You don't put up 7ppg on 25% shooting over a three game stretch in the finals if you can score.
He is a good passer, who makes the right pass, as he should. The offense is run through him. He should be making these passes. He isn't some great passer though.

Thinking Draymond is a top 10 player in the league is worse than when people actually agreed with Noah being selected to the first team a few years back.

[Young X]

I like Green, but I honestly think he's Lamar Odom in the best situation ever. He's not better than Dame Lillard, John Wall, PG, Andre Drummond ... etc. I don't even know that he's better than Jimmy Butler. When Green has a bad game, no one really notices and there aren't stories about it. To me, that's sort of a tell-tale sign that you're nowhere close to superstar status.Was Odom ever the best defender in the NBA like Green is?

Was he the defensive anchor of a #1 championship defense like Green was last season?

I don't understand why this season's Drummond would be better than him. Green is better on both ends of the floor.

[CTbasketball92]

There are more than 10 OFFENSIVE players better than him.

Factoring in defense? And doing things that help your team WIN? There are barely 10 players better than him.

He's the best defender in the league. He gets 10 boards a game. He's can pass at a high level. He can score. He's a triple double machine. And he does the little things like hustle, set good screens, etc. at a high level.

First of all, Green is NOT close to being as good a defender as Kawhi Leonard, who's also a far superior scorer. Green is a very good overall defender, but we all saw what happened once bogut (injury) and iggy (slowed by injury) weren't able to help him out. Seriously, that "strength in numbers" mantra is so weak lol, because all of their "star" players always fall back on their role players to back them up.

Put Green on a team with Michael Carter Williams as the next best player and see how much "doing things to help your team win" actually gets you. Sometimes, your team needs you to go out and get 35 points on a middling percentage. It's not great for advanced statistics, but that's the cold truth of being a really elite player, and I'm not sure Green can actually do that. And he's a really good passer, but what happens once he's on a team with terrible offensive players? He's the ultimate glue-guy, but he's not quite good enough at anything to be in the top 10. Being versatile only gets you into the top 10 if you also have takeover ability on offense. That's why LeBron >>> Iggy.

Green is a really good player, don't get me wrong, but I need to see some transcendent stuff from him before he gets anywhere in my top 10. I think top 20 is reasonable. Not top 10. Klay top 12-15, and no one should ever mention his name before Harden's.

[CTbasketball92]

He isn't the best defender in the league. He can't score, unless he is left wide open, which is generally the case on the GSW team. You don't put up 7ppg on 25% shooting over a three game stretch in the finals if you can score.
He is a good passer, who makes the right pass, as he should. The offense is run through him. He should be making these passes. He isn't some great passer though.

Thinking Draymond is a top 10 player in the league is worse than when people actually agreed with Noah being selected to the first team a few years back.

pretty much this.

[Young X]

First of all, Green is NOT close to being as good a defender as Kawhi Leonard, who's also a far superior scorer. Green is a very good overall defender, but we all saw what happened once bogut (injury) and iggy (slowed by injury) weren't able to help him out. Seriously, that "strength in numbers" mantra is so weak lol, because all of their "star" players always fall back on their role players to back them up.

Put Green on a team with Michael Carter Williams as the next best player and see how much "doing things to help your team win" actually gets you. Sometimes, your team needs you to go out and get 35 points on a middling percentage. It's not great for advanced statistics, but that's the cold truth of being a really elite player, and I'm not sure Green can actually do that. And he's a really good passer, but what happens once he's on a team with terrible offensive players? He's the ultimate glue-guy, but he's not quite good enough at anything to be in the top 10. Being versatile only gets you into the top 10 if you also have takeover ability on offense. That's why LeBron >>> Iggy.

Green is a really good player, don't get me wrong, but I need to see some transcendent stuff from him before he gets anywhere in my top 10. I think top 20 is reasonable. Not top 10. Klay top 12-15, and no one should ever mention his name before Harden's.Green is better at damn near every facet of defense than Leonard. Check out this article: http://www1.vantagesports.com/Articles/article_view/VxUEfCkAAFLP-eqa/Article

He's also #1 in any defensive impact metric you can think of. He's not just a "very good" defender, he's one of if not the best in the NBA.

Also going by your 2nd paragraph. Why does having the ability to go out and drop 35+ make you a top 10 player? Does that mean someone like Leonard isn't a top 10 player either?

I don't expect people to understand where I'm coming from because everyone is so in love with volume scorers. But there's more to the game than that. You can effect the game in other ways like passing, rebounding and defense which Draymond excels at.