NBA: Examining the NBA 2K20 ratings release

Don’t sleep on these guys

As there were several players with initial ratings that felt too high, this group probably should have gotten a little more dap from the development team.

Ben Simmons – 87 Overall

This is simply egregious. As someone who has often harped on Ben Simmons and his unwillingness to attempt to put a basketball inside of a hoop from approximately 24 feet away, even I was blown away by this rating.

Simmons has suffered much of the same criticism as the player rated directly ahead of him in Rudy Gobert for an inability to perform in the playoffs. It’s a fair critique, to be certain. But are we seriously at a point where Gobert is being recognized as a better player than Simmons?

This rating, while certainly reflective of his refusal to shoot the basketball from more than six feet away, is flat-out disrespectful to Simmons’s mercurial talent.

He is at once Magic Johnson and Giannis Antetokounmpo, with the ability to make pocket passes that are little more than an orange blur across the court as well as the athleticism to put even the best defenders on a poster.

While Gobert was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year, it’s an award that often feels more respectful towards position (read: only big men win it) than actual defensive impact.

Ben Simmons is arguably the best defender in the NBA, as the only player in the league to guard players at every position at least 10 percent of possessions. In addition, he held every position below their offensive average when he was the on-ball defender.

His rating being behind Gobert is wildly slanderous.

Jimmy Butler – 88 Overall

Kawhi Leonard made a leap in his player rating after a playoff run that will hold its own against the very best runs by Michael Jordan or LeBron James. While Jimmy Butler‘s run ended sooner (by Kawhi’s hand, no less), it should be honored just as equally.

The Philadelphia 76ers half-court offense was, well, not very good. Simmons’s unwillingness to shoot 3s limited their spacing and hand-cuffed coach Brett Brown’s ability to draw up effective sets in the half-court.

Enter Jimmy Butler.

Butler’s contributions in the playoffs almost single-handedly carried them to a seventh game against the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.

In a series that saw Joel Embiid hampered by injury as well as illness, Butler was able to provide Philly the boost they needed to come within two points of winning a series they had no business being in.

His stat line is impressive enough, averaging 19.4/6.1/5.2 against the best competition the league had to offer, and averaging 22/7/5.6 over seven games against the eventual NBA champions.

Forget the fact that he is always recognized as one of the top defensive guards in the league. 88 overall certainly feels too low.

Paul George – 93 Overall

He could’ve been the Defensive Player of the Year. A shoulder injury derailed what may have ended up as an MVP season.

And while that shoulder injury certainly factored into this rating, as his efficiency numbers took a dive after his surgery, a 93 overall feels simply too low for an MVP Finalist.

Paul George is an elite multi-faceted talent. He isn’t just a jack-of-all-trades, he is a master of them as well.

His perimeter scoring rivals that of any wing player, and his efficiency on the perimeter (38.6 percent from 3 on 9.8 attempts per game) rivals that of even the best shooting guards.

Defensively, he is a monster. He embodies the active hands of Patrick Beverley, the hustle of Marcus Smart, the awareness of Ben Simmons, and exhibits phenomenal rim protection for his size and position when asked to do so.

It’s a shame his health remains a constant question mark, as he deserves to stand right alongside LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard as the best players in the league.

Then again, isn’t LeBron’s health in question? While he hasn’t struggled with injury throughout his career, he missed 27 games last season and is not getting any younger.

Also, Kawhi isn’t exactly a model of perfect health, having battled a lingering quad issue and playing 70 or more games only twice in his eight-year career. Paul George, in theory, should benefit from the same doubt. Look for his rating to rise above 95 if he can manage to stay healthy.

Player ratings are always subjective, and the debate about them is always a hot one. Let us know what you thought of the ratings in the comments.