anyone has this article? http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/stor...vin-love-russell-westbrook-top-players-age-25
Durant Westbrook Griffin Harden Rose Irving Ibaka Love B. Lopez Curry Faried Holiday A. Davis Monroe R. Anderson Batum T. Young George Cousins Jennings Lillard Sanders Jordan E. Davis Bledsoe
I would take Harden, Irving and (a healthy) Rose over Blake Griffin. Ask me after this season and maybe Ibaka too.
Terrible list. Paul George, already a top 5 defender in this league is listed below Monroe, Faried, Ryan Anderson, Thad Young, etc. Already one of the best rebounders/defenders at his position and with his offense improving (already averaging 17 a game), he should easily be top 10.
4) James Harden AGE: 23 DOB: 8/26/89 HT: 6-5 WT: 220 POS: SG PPG: 25.8 APG: 5.3 RPG: 4.4 3-YR WARP: 36.6 Current: Harden has grown into one of the top offensive players in the NBA. He has got great vision and anticipates defenders well, which gives him a decided advantage as a scorer or passer. He's solid on the perimeter and very tough to defend off the dribble with or without ball screens because of his power and ability to change speeds. He has proven he can be the best player on his team and still drive that team to a good record and a likely playoff appearance. -- Thorpe Future: Believe it or not, Harden has this group's best WARP projection for 2013-14. Because these projections are based on a small pool of similar players, that doesn't mean Harden will actually leapfrog former teammates Durant and Westbrook, but it does indicate he belongs in the conversation. As Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade age, Harden could soon emerge as the league's top 2-guard. -- Pelton
YES: Durant Westbrook Griffin Harden Rose Irving Ibaka Love B. Lopez Curry Holiday A. Davis Monroe George Cousins Lillard NO: R. Anderson Batum T. Young Sanders Jordan E. Davis Bledsoe Jennings Faried
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I agree with almost all of that. Bledsoe, I feel, is a talent that could explode. Unless if you're looking at our situation and how he would serve us with Harden on the team. Faried/Jordan/Batum is interesting as well.
Blake Griffin is too high. Kevin Love is too low. Griffin and Ibaka ahead of Love is blasphemy. Also, I don't care how fat and crazy he is. If I'm starting a franchise (as list alludes to), Cousins is much higher on my list. Do you mean to tell me if you were a GM you would really choose Ryan Anderson over Cousins?
Blake Griffin seems a little too high for me, and i think i would put Rose at 3 at least but i guess it all depends on how much the injury affects him. Also, Lillard and Cousins seem too low...
Rose is definitely too low on that.....when healthy him and Durant are 1A and 1B. I can't read the rest of the article so I am assuming it has to do with his injuries.
Rose should be lower. MVP Rose is #2 obviously but the dude tore his ACL and hasn't played this season. 6'2 scoring guard whose game is highly predicated on his athleticism. Torn ACL. He may still be good, but he will never be as good as he used to be. Someone like Harden could live with a torn ACL because he's 6'5, built like a fridge, uses old man moves and has a shot.
Could explode but too early to tell. Coming off the benj and being able to play at that pace for 20mpg is so much different than doing it for a whole game for a whole season. Yea he's started some games and played well but the style he plays 100 mph all times is tough to maintain for an 82 game schedule. The rare talent like ai has been able to do it and he took practice off . I mean look at guys like Darren collison who played well after cp3 was out and even our own jeremy Lin. I think one of the biggest problems with lins game the last 2 weeks is his lack of urgency and energy. That's just so hard to maintain over an 82 game season and when your game relies on that...you'll hit some tough patches.
