I sort of think the Pelicans are locks to make the playoffs next year. But I do agree that Davis is not top 3 if they don't. There's plenty of talent on his team that, pending injuries, that he should not have any excuses.
I have no problem with CP3 high nor Durant low, but I have a problem with both of these things happening at the same time. If you're going to penalize Durant for games missed, which is perfectly reasonable, then by the same token CP3 and to lesser extent Anthony Davis are also likely to miss time this season. Either we're just ranking the "best" players, in which case LeBron and Durant should be 1/2 in some order. Or we're ranking players we project to make the most contributions this year, in which case CP3's age and injury history should drop him a bit. Similar to how Duncan/Parker perennially get ranked fairly low on these ranks. You can't just arbitrarily decide to use health for one player and not another.
I sort of don't get why Anthony Davis is ranked higher than Blake Griffin. I mean, I can buy that he has a higher ceiling, but Blake Griffin was the third best player in the NBA last year and he has shown that he has improved his outside shooting even more over the offseason. He also worked a lot on defense this offseason which is addressing another area of development for him. I don't know if Chris Sheridan had a vote in these NBA rankings, but he is even picking Griffin as next years MVP.
I guess, but a true top 3 player should be able to drag that squad into the playoffs. They have a very good PG in Holiday and a solid center in Asik. Sharpshooter off the bench in Anderson. Another weird idea I have is a "what if" scenario where Harden took Davis' spot on the team. Would a team of Holiday Harden Evans Anderson Asik make the playoffs? And Eric Gordon can come off the bench and fire away in the 2nd unit too. Just a weird thought I had lol.
