<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>ESPN's <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBArank?src=hash">#NBArank</a> panel also gave a rating for Paul George, if healthy. He got a hypothetical rating of 8.67, good for 9th place overall.</p>— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/525682135878086656">October 24, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I don't know if Anthony Davis is quite worth the jizzfest yet. Yes, Omer Asik will have his back this year, but I think you have maybe one more season before he really breaks through. Good ole ESPN and media perception. Our guys took quite a tumble. But we shouldn't be too surprised. ESPN has us ranked eighth in the West this year after the losses of Chandler (never mind we replaced him with Ariza), Lin (the loss of whom is almost a gain), and Asik (who really had no place on the team now, and pouted much of last season on the bench). To be honest Dwight is probably about where he should be (until he has a point guard who can feed him; that free-throw percentage killed us a few times last year, especially in Game 1 of the playoffs) and James Harden can hopefully use this as motivation. A five-place drop?
Kevin Durant 8th. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Important <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBArank?src=hash">#NBArank</a> note: Each player's rating is a prediction of the QUALITY and QUANTITY of his contributions for the season.</p>— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/525693377921433601">October 24, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBArank?src=hash">#NBArank</a> 8: Kevin Durant (<a href="https://twitter.com/KDTrey5">@KDTrey5</a>). <a href="http://t.co/CxglAIW27N">http://t.co/CxglAIW27N</a> <a href="http://t.co/uOFCpxvyeE">http://t.co/uOFCpxvyeE</a></p>— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/525693286347190273">October 24, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>If healthy, Kevin Durant would have been <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBArank?src=hash">#NBArank</a> No. 2, with a near-perfect rating of 9.94. <a href="http://t.co/CKsDq5kMpl">http://t.co/CKsDq5kMpl</a></p>— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/525693895053934592">October 24, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBArank?src=hash">#NBArank</a> 10: Dwight Howard (<a href="https://twitter.com/DwightHoward">@DwightHoward</a>). <a href="http://t.co/58vnuN7Prv">http://t.co/58vnuN7Prv</a> <a href="http://t.co/DWW4JdMyDA">http://t.co/DWW4JdMyDA</a></p>— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/525663571544637441">October 24, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBArank?src=hash">#NBArank</a> 9: James Harden (<a href="https://twitter.com/JHarden13">@JHarden13</a>). <a href="http://t.co/mOBivROhSa">http://t.co/mOBivROhSa</a> <a href="http://t.co/v5WG1J48Rf">http://t.co/v5WG1J48Rf</a></p>— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/525678153109630976">October 24, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Carmelo has played one season of passable defense out of his 11 seasons in the league. Most overlooked overrated player?
My question is, WHO is actually rating Harden highly these days? Someone should ask these guys when was the last time someone said something positive about Harden. It's hard to be overrated when no one likes you.
Neil Paine is the only one that ranked Durant below an 8, and is the reason why he's so low. His explanation: Neil Paine, FiveThirtyEight.com (rated Durant 6 of 10): "Durant rated as 9 for me before his injury (LeBron James was the only 10 I gave out), and that was under the assumption he'd play something like 80 games and 3,000 minutes. Now, ESPN's fantasy projections call for him to play only 50 games and about 1,900 minutes. In terms of "Real Plus-Minus Wins Above Replacement," that means he'll generate only about 60 percent of the value he would have had he played the full season. If the replacement level for #NBArank is a rating somewhere between 2 and 3, and Durant is losing 40 percent of his value above that level, it drops him to 6."
Hopefully it's motivation for Harden. I'd much rather him come in with the chip of having to prove himself than coming in anointed as the best shooting guard in the league. His defense absolutely has to improve. I think a lot of the other star scorers could have some pretty bad defensive "highlight" films created for them too though if you took every defensive slip up from an entire season and patched them together.
I think Harden should be around #12. Carmelo, Joakim Noah and Paul George should all be ahead of him. But #9 is not really that far off. I actually think that Klay Thompson is better than Harden because he plays both ends of the floor. So it makes these rankings all screwy anyway.
I continue to be baffled why Love and Curry get a pass when they clearly belong in the group of guys who are all offense and no defense.
Because Love is the last Great White Hope and Curry's team has made it further in the playoffs (and he's shot better) than a team led by Harden.
You put Klay in Harden's shoes as the primary scorer and lets see how much defense he plays or even if he can get a team into the playoffs.
