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NBA: Ranking The League’s Top 10 Small Forwards For 2016-17

By Gerald Bourguet

Jan 14, 2016; San Antonio, TX, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers small forward LeBron James (23) is defended by San Antonio Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard (2) during the second half at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 14, 2016; San Antonio, TX, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers small forward LeBron James (23) is defended by San Antonio Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard (2) during the second half at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports /
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As the 2016-17 NBA season gets underway, here’s a look at player rankings for the top 10 small forwards in the league.

NBA
Jan 14, 2016; San Antonio, TX, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers small forward LeBron James (23) is defended by San Antonio Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard (2) during the second half at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports /

With the 2016-17 NBA season officially underway, all the summer chatter about the draft, free agency, trades and preseason expectations has finally given way to actual basketball. Now that the new season tipped off Tuesday evening, the players get to do all the talking.

With another week or so to speculate before the new results and stats start sinking in, however, there’s still plenty to evaluate after 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 small forwards in the league.

Related Story: Ranking The Top 10 NBA Power 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. Without further ado, here are the honorable mentions and top 10 small forwards in the NBA.

Honorable Mentions:  Danilo Gallinari, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, DeMarre Carroll, Chandler Parsons, Harrison Barnes, Rudy Gay, Kent Bazemore, Andre Iguodala, Justise Winslow, Al-Farouq Aminu, Luol Deng, Otto Porter Jr.