NBA: Ranking The League’s Top 10 Shooting Guards In 2016-17

April 16, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) shoots the basketball against Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson (11) during the first quarter in game one of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
April 16, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) shoots the basketball against Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson (11) during the first quarter in game one of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 11
Next

As the 2016-17 NBA season gets underway, here’s a look at player rankings for the top 10 shooting guards in the league.

NBA
April 16, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) shoots the basketball against Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson (11) during the first quarter in game one of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /

Now that the 2016-17 NBA season is officially underway, all the summer talk about the draft, free agency, trades and preseason expectations has finally given way to actual basketball. Almost every team has played its first game, and now the players get to do all the talking.

The new results and stats won’t start sinking in for another week or so, however, so there’s still plenty to evaluate following another summer full of player movement. From offseason grades to season previews, there’s been plenty to analyze, but what about some good, old-fashioned player rankings?

Player rankings are always subjective, and that makes them open to an awful lot of scrutiny, debate and differing opinions.

There are a ton of factors to take into account, including stats, advanced stats, individual skills, defense, team success, value to a team, upside, injury history, projections for the upcoming season, how they’ll fit in a new role or on a new team…the list goes on and on.

In an attempt to make sense of that myriad of judging standards, it’s time to take a look at the 10 best players in the NBA at each position. Today, we move on to the 10 best shooting guards in the association.

Related Story: Ranking The Top 10 NBA Small Forwards In 2016-17

For our purposes, we tried to stick with players’ true positions, rather than where they might play in rarely used small-ball lineups. There are some exceptions though, with guys like Andrew Wiggins and Jimmy Butler being included on our small forward list instead of with the shooting guards, since they’ll be starting 3s this year.

Without further ado, here are the honorable mentions and top 10 shooting guards in the NBA.

Honorable Mentions:  J.J. Redick, Avery Bradley, Evan Fournier, Khris Middleton, Gary Harris, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, J.R. Smith, Kyle Korver, Brandon Knight, Courtney Lee, Danny Green, Jordan Clarkson, Zach LaVine, Monta Ellis, Wesley Matthews