NBA: Ranking The 10 Best Players In The League
By Josh Roberts
With the NBA Finals under way and the NBA Draft coming up soon, let’s take a look at the 10 best players in the league today.
Before going through the rankings, however, I should clarify that if a player did not play in at least 41 of the 82 games this season, they were not taken into consideration. This excludes players like Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo and Kevin Love, all of whom have proven capable of being top 10 players.
10. Kyrie Irving
In his second season in the league, Kyrie Irving established himself as one of the top point guards in the game.
Irving finished last season with 22.5 points per game to go along with nearly six assists. After being named the Rookie of the Year in 2012, Kyrie was voted into the NBA All-Star Game and won the 3-point shootout.
Irving’s skill set makes him a serious defensive challenge. He has the ability to shoot from beyond the arc, but if you guard him too closely, he possesses the speed and athleticism to get to the rim, as evidenced by his five free-throw attempts per game.
Defensively, Irving certainly has room to grow, but at 21 years of age, he still has plenty of time. Expect to see Irving’s numbers continue to progress as he grows into a more mature star. And if the young talent on the Cavaliers, like Tristan Thompson or Dion Waiters, is able to develop, Irving’s production should also increase.
9. Tim Duncan
They said he was too old.
Heading into 2012-13, Duncan’s career appeared to be on its last breath. After consecutive seasons where his scoring and rebounding numbers were down significantly from his career averages, Duncan bounced back to the tune of 17.8 points and 9.9 rebounds per game.
Duncan only played an average of 30 minutes per game this season, so when his scoring and rebounding is averaged per 36 minutes, those numbers are just as high as they were in his prime.
Moreover, Duncan’s defensive rebounding percentage this season, which is an estimate of the percentage of defensive rebounds he grabbed while on the floor, was 29.6 percent, which is his career high. Duncan’s free-throw percentage, 82 percent, is also his career high.
While Duncan’s future is uncertain, his performance this season, on limited minutes, made him one of the top centers in the league.
8. Tony Parker
There isn’t anything incredibly flashy about Tony Parker. He doesn’t throw down huge dunks or shoot an impressive percentage from the 3-point line. However, his ability to make the Spurs’ offense go makes him one of the efficient players in the league.
Parker’s ball-handling skills allow him to come off picks in a way that creates as much space as possible for him, and as he displayed throughout the season, he is able to then pull up and hit the mid-range shot or drive to the basket as well as anyone.
This season has been Parker’s best offensively, averaging 20 points and 7.6 assists per game.
Throughout the season Parker was in the MVP discussion and if he is able to continue to play at this level, the Spurs could compete even if they were to lose Duncan.
For many watching the NBA, it took Westbrook’s absence in OKC to realize just how valuable his 19 field-goal attempts per game were.
Westbrook is the engine that makes the Oklahoma City Thunder run. Literally.
His speed from one end of the floor to the other is some of the best in the league, and undoubtedly contributes to his 23.2 points per game. Westbrook, averaging 7.4 assists last season, has also shown himself to be one of the better distributors in the league.
Furthermore, Westbrook’s ability to create offense out of nothing, by driving to the hole or drawing enough defensive attention that he can dish to an open shooter, and do so very effectively, makes him one of the best point guards in the league.
6. James Harden
After a blockbuster trade that sent Harden to Houston, there were doubts as to whether or not he would perform at an all-star level.
Harden did that, and more.
Harden’s 25.9 points, 5.8 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game helped to carry a Houston team projected to be a lottery team to the eighth seed in the Western Conference. Moreover, Harden led the league in free-throw attempts per game with 10.2, and made 85 percent of them.
At the age of 23, Harden is one of the best offensive players in the league. With a bit more growth on the defensive end of the ball, Harden is on the road to becoming the next big superstar in the NBA.
And if you want to see what Harden looked like pre-beard, check this out:
5. Kobe Bryant
In a season that started out with championship expectations and, essentially, ended with Kobe Bryant being carried off the floor, Kobe was still one of the best players in the league.
It wasn’t the same Kobe who scored 35.4 points one season. However, it was a Kobe who, at the age of 34, found a way to score 27.3 points, 6.0 assists and 5.6 rebounds per game.
This season’s Lakers didn’t meet the expectations that were laid upon them at the beginning of the season, but Bryant pushed himself for that team until he was unable to walk.
Whether or not we will see Kobe again remains to be seen, but if he decides to hang it up before next season, at least he will have finished his career in Kobe fashion, averaging 32.0 points in his last five games.
Known for his offense, Carmelo Anthony led the league in scoring this season with 28.7 points per game.
Melo has proven to be one of the most versatile offensive players in the league. Not only does he have the ability to hit the 3, but he’s also shown the ability to go to work down low.
At times, Melo has struggled to be an efficient offensive player, but the number of shots he takes per game can, in part, be explained by the fact that he is undoubtedly the main source of offense for his Knicks.
We saw what happened in the playoffs when the only player on the Knicks that could score was Melo.
The more intriguing part about Anthony’s game is that he appears to be putting forth much more effort in other aspects of the game as evidenced by his 9.9 rebounds per game in April.
His defense appears to be improving as well. When guarded by Melo, opposing power forwards’ player efficiency rating was a mere 13.4, according to 82games.com.
3. Chris Paul
Chris Paul is the Swiss Army knife of point guards. Need him to score 25 points?
Done.
Need him to dish out double-digit assists and still score 18-20 points.
Done.
It’s hard to find things you could need Chris Paul to do that he does not do well. Averaging 17 points, 9.7 assists, nearly four rebounds and 2.4 steals Paul did everything he could to make the Clippers a better team overall. All while maintaining a usage rate of only 23 percent, giving others around him plenty of chances to produce.
The Clippers would be wise to find a way to keep him in L.A. because wherever CP3 might end up were he to leave, that team will instantly be significantly better off, whomever they may be.
Unrelated to his success as a player in the NBA, numbers wise, Paul is just an overall good guy:
2. Kevin Durant
On the cover of Sports Illustrated, Kevin Durant was quoted saying, “I’m tired of being second…”
Well, sorry Kevin.
On the bright side, second isn’t so bad when considered it’s in the context of the entire league.
This season, Durant put on another offensive display of excellence by averaging 28.1 points per game, 4.6 assists and grabbing 8 rebounds a game. Durant also possessed the ability to lock his man down defensively with his long reach and quick movement, as evidenced by his opponents’ 10.5 average player efficiency rating this season.
Moreover, Durant had his best season from the free-throw line by averaging 9.3 attempts per game, and shooting an astounding 91 percent.
At 24 years old, Durant seemingly has nowhere to go but up.
1. LeBron James
After winning his fourth MVP award this season, LeBron James joined the all-time ranks of players like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain as the only players with four or more MVP awards. At 28 years old and this level of production, a fifth MVP seems like a foregone conclusion.
This past season LeBron averaged 26.8 points, 7.3 assists and 8.0 rebounds per game. He was also the leader of a team that won a historic 27 games in a row and is now playing in the Finals for their second ring in a row.
While he used to be called the choker, 82games.com reports that the Heat’s win percentage in clutch situations is 81.8 percent. For comparison, Kobe Bryant’s win percentage was only 62.2 percent during clutch minutes.
What LeBron wants, LeBron gets. If he wants to shoot a 3-pointer, he has shown the capacity to hit these shots consistently. If his shot is off, there isn’t another player as athletic as him and he can take anyone in the low post.
With the way that LeBron is playing, it’s hard to imagine anyone taking over the reign while King James is on the throne.