Where do you rank Domantas Sabonis this year?

[elementally morale]

To me he is a top 10 player without question. Him not making the All-Star team is an all-time bad decision. He plays hard, doesn't miss games, does everything on the court, makes his shots while getting his teammates easy looks and so on. I have a hard time imagining someone not having him in their top 15-20. There aren't more than 5-6 players I'd rather start a team with that wants to compete in the next few years.

[Full Court]

He most definitely should have been an all star, but I don't have him in the top 10. Top 20 for sure. I don't think you can put him above

Jokic
Embiid
AD
Tatum
SGA
Giannis
Curry
Luka
Kawhi
Durant
Edwards

So top ten is quite a stretch in my mind.

[elementally morale]

He most definitely should have been an all star, but I don't have him in the top 10. Top 20 for sure. I don't think you can put him above

Jokic
Embiid
AD
Tatum
SGA
Giannis
Curry
Luka
Kawhi
Durant
Edwards

So top ten is quite a stretch in my mind.

Jokic, sure. Embiid... when healthy... and that's something I can't trust any more. I'd rather have Sabonis than Davis or Tatum. SGA, Giannis, Luka... okay. Curry? For the next few years? Maybe, but I'm not sure. Same with Kawhi. Window is closing. Edwards I'm fine with. Jokic, SGA, Giannis, Edwards and Luka I'd take before Sabonis for the next few years. Curry, Kawhi and Durant... possibly, I'm not sure. Embiid is tricky. If he is healthy, obviously. But he is not. As for AD he should be a top 10 player but to me he is not. Producing every other game or one half a game is not good enough.

So I arrive at not top 5 but top 10. I'm okay if someone says not top 10 but top 15. Lower than that? Hard to argue. Sabonis is a team player and he may not individually be top 10 but I can't name 10 players that have more impact on the game. Plus he is very reliable. You know he will play and come to play every night.

[NBAGOAT]

his impact on offense is great but defense is a big issue.

tatum(really good 2 way play leads by far best team in league),mitchell(28/6 completely carried cavs for a stretch better defense this year), brunson(28/7 knicks 6th in offense), embiid, haliburton(defense is bad but 21.5/11.5 leading the 2nd best offense with no star except siakam for 18 games), edwards(26/5 really good defense), shai, jokic, kawhi, KD, luka, curry, ad(definitely not sabonis on offense but one of the best defenders in league), lebron(playmaking still as good if not better than sabonis with more scoring). He's around 15 but there's a few arguable ones. What about his teammate fox paul george etc

[rawimpact]

top 15 for sure. He doesn't get recognized because he's white. I'm hoping affirmative action in the NBA resolves this issue. I'd like to see more races and lgbtqia2s+ be represented in the all star selection too. Strength by diversity.

[rawimpact]

in no particular order

Lebron
Davis
Kawhi
George
Curry
Durant
Booker
Embiid
Jokic
Tatum
Giannis
Luka
Shai
Ant
Mitchell
Brunson
T
hese players off the top of my head can be arguably above Sabonis... so top 15 IMO is appropriate.

[elementally morale]

If I have to select one player to start a team with for the next few years, I doubt Booker, Mitchell, Brunson, George and even Tatum or Durant is a better choice to take my team further.

[Xiao Yao You]

If I have to select one player to start a team with for the next few years, I doubt Booker, Mitchell, Brunson, George and even Tatum or Durant is a better choice to take my team further.

sure you don't want a .500 team with Lebron and Davis?

[elementally morale]

sure you don't want a .500 team with Lebron and Davis?

Both are out of the question. LeBron is way too old and AD is just unreliable as I wrote earlier.

[iamgine]

Borderline top 15.

Best center after Embiid/Jokic. About equal with AD.

[beasted]

When healthy there's really no competition with Davis vs. Sabonis. Davis is a flat out better scorer, defender, FT shooter, and can capably play the 4. Sabonis is exclusively a 5, and is just not a good. Great player and definitely deserved the all-star nod this year.

The injuries and Lebron scapegoating has brainwashed some here in just how good Davis is.

[Full Court]

When healthy there's really no competition with Davis vs. Sabonis. Davis is a flat out better scorer, defender, FT shooter, and can capably play the 4. Sabonis is exclusively a 5, and is just not a good. Great player and definitely deserved the all-star nod this year.

The injuries and Lebron scapegoating has brainwashed some here in just how good Davis is.

Good post.

[FultzNationRISE]

When healthy there's really no competition with Davis vs. Sabonis. Davis is a flat out better scorer, defender, FT shooter, and can capably play the 4. Sabonis is exclusively a 5, and is just not a good. Great player and definitely deserved the all-star nod this year.

The injuries and Lebron scapegoating has brainwashed some here in just how good Davis is.

Nah, Davis is legitimately overrated the way Love was overrated in Minnesota. And people were calling Love empty stats before he had any connection to Bron.

Love put up some eye popping stats in Minny. But if you watched the games, it was just a combination of him stat wh0ring and nobody else on the team competing for numbers. It never felt like he was a dominant force in the game.

Davis doesnt specifically try to stat pad, but his impact when you watch the game absolutely does not correlate to what the numbers would tell you hes doing. Perfect case in point last years conf finals game 1, he got LIT UP by Joker throughout the whole game, Jokic was dominating in a way that gave Denver momentum and forced the adjustments etc. and Denver led the whole game and won. It never felt like AD was a presence. But by the end of the game he had like 36 and however many rebounds. He basically matched Joker’s numbers but if you watched the game… it was a beatdown.

That is DEFINITELY a feature of Davis. He disappears, he’s passive, and also, his offense doesnt really translate to the team. He takes and makes a certain amount of shots, gets his points, but last game for instance he played 41 minutes with zero assists. He’s not a generator on offense. Hes just… out there, collecting points over time. It’s very Minnesota K-Lovesque.

If you watch Sabonis, he is an offensive orchestrator. He is the main playmaker on the league’s second highest scoring team, as a center. And he plays hard every night. If you paired HIM with Lebron, their chemistry would be insane and the Lakers offense would be far more consistent. Yes Davis is a better defender but that doesnt make as much difference as Sabonis being a consistently available, nine assist center who also scores 20 on 62%.

Im not saying its some huge difference, theyre both top nba players, but to me Domas is clearly the better center this year. I also dont see how anyone is taking Tatum or Mitchell over him. I dont think those people are really appreciating the value of elevating a team vs being an iso scorer.

[Manny98]

Around the 15-20 range

[Duffy Pratt]

Easily top 10 for me. In general, I think the great wings are overrated. There are just a lot of them, and they get the advantage of the ridiculous rules now in effect. But they are relatively easy to find. The great big men are very few, but I think they are just as essential:

Joker currently rules the roost.

Then there are Giannis, AD, Embiid, Porzingas, Sabonis and Bam. Right now, Sabonis and Giannis are tops here. Wemby and Chet will likely soon displace a couple of these.

The only wings/guards I would consider starting a team with over Sabonis are Luka and Shai. All the rest are more or less fungible, and the drop between any of them is much less than the drop off from elite to mediocre big man.