TOP 10 has begun on ESPN.com - #8 will make a lot of noise

[greensborohill]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/71...yer-rankings-8

Rose

[OmniStrife]

8 updated.

1st MVP to be the 8th best player in the league??

[greensborohill]

What?

I put Dirk as the 3rd best player, because he is not better than Lebron James, or Dwyane Wade.

Then how the fvck did they lose? They're #1 & #2, right?

[greensborohill]

8 updated.

you dah man!

[Clippersfan86]

8th is fair for rose. Durant will probably be 6th or 7th. CP3, Wade, Howard, Lebron and Dirk are going to be the top 5 no question IMO (not in order).

[Fazotronic]

Explain to me why Melo, Gasol, Zbo and Amare should be unquestioned picks above Blake when ranking INDIVIDUAL players/talent? You apparently are getting hung up on the fact that a rookie didn't lead his team to the playoffs (even the great ones don't do it too often). The ONLY player I think has a strong case to be over Blake out of the ones you listed is Amare. Why? Because he has slightly better all around stats AND made the playoffs.

Melo and Amare both had less impact on the Knicks than Griffin did on the Clippers. Not to mention Zbo and Gasol are both worse in every way than Griffin pretty much. Gasol is a better defender, that's it. Griffin has them beat in passing, rebounding, scoring. I don't understand why people can't handle him being the 10th best player with the whole "It's too soon". Reminds me of rookie Jordan getting frozen out at the all star game. Those players also thought he was just a dunker, flashy player who was getting praise too early.

Greatness can't be denied. Before Eric Gordon went down with injury (allowing teams to triple team Blake a lot last couple months of season) Blake actually pushed his stats up to 23, 13 and 3.7 apg. Those are MVP level stats as a rookie. If the Clippers stayed healthy and made playoffs he would of had a legit shot at MVP despite being a rookie. Blake averaged 26 ppg, 14 rpg and 5 apg for a 2 month stretch.

We saw how much he improved month to month most of last season. Imagine how improved he will be coming out of this summer? He didn't have to spend whole time rehabbing, and got to do a lot of skill and conditioning work.

BTW you putting Howard at 5 is that a joke? ESPN and the rest of the world knows he's number 2 at worst.

dude. blake is playing purely on talent at the moment and you just said that the only thing gasol is better at, is defense.
you serious?

[alenleomessi]

how it should be:
1.Lebron
2.Howard
3.Wade
4.Dirk
5.Cp3
6.Durant
7.Kobe

how it would be:
1.Lebron
2.Dirk
3.Wade
4.Howard
5.Kobe
6.Durant
7.CP3

[Clippersfan86]

dude. blake is playing purely on talent at the moment and you just said that the only thing gasol is better at, is defense.
you serious?

Doesn't matter if Blake is getting by on physicality, sheer talent or w/e. Doesn't matter if Gasol is playing a skill game. Blake Griffin is better than Gasol. I'm 100 percent confident any coach or star player in the league would trade Gasol for Blake... even if Gasol had an identical contract.

Gasol may be a higher all around impact player in general due to his experience in the league.... but when it comes to individual talent which is what this list is about... Blake kills Gasol. Yes the only thing Blake is worse at than Gasol is defense.

Griffin beats Gasol at his own secret weapon. Passing and playmaking. Gasol was 2nd in assists after Blake for bigmen but Blake beat him by a pretty good margin. Griffin had 2 triple doubles this year and 7 games where he missed a triple double by 2 assists or less.

Griffin: 22.5 ppg, 12 rpg, 4 apg, .7 spg, .5 bpg on 51 percent shooting.

Gasol: 19 ppg, 10 rpg, 3.3 apg, .6 spg, 1.5 bpg on 53 percent shooting.

When you look at these stats I think both have a case but it's absolutely not absurd to say Griffin is the better or an equal individual talent. Gasol is in his prime, Griffin a sophomore. That's what makes this more compelling.

[guy]

Explain to me why Melo, Gasol, Zbo and Amare should be unquestioned picks above Blake when ranking INDIVIDUAL players/talent? You apparently are getting hung up on the fact that a rookie didn't lead his team to the playoffs (even the great ones don't do it too often). The ONLY player I think has a strong case to be over Blake out of the ones you listed is Amare. Why? Because he has slightly better all around stats AND made the playoffs.

Melo and Amare both had less impact on the Knicks than Griffin did on the Clippers. Not to mention Zbo and Gasol are both worse in every way than Griffin pretty much. Gasol is a better defender, that's it. Griffin has them beat in passing, rebounding, scoring. I don't understand why people can't handle him being the 10th best player with the whole "It's too soon". Reminds me of rookie Jordan getting frozen out at the all star game. Those players also thought he was just a dunker, flashy player who was getting praise too early.

Greatness can't be denied. Before Eric Gordon went down with injury (allowing teams to triple team Blake a lot last couple months of season) Blake actually pushed his stats up to 23, 13 and 3.7 apg. Those are MVP level stats as a rookie. If the Clippers stayed healthy and made playoffs he would of had a legit shot at MVP despite being a rookie. Blake averaged 26 ppg, 14 rpg and 5 apg for a 2 month stretch.

We saw how much he improved month to month most of last season. Imagine how improved he will be coming out of this summer? He didn't have to spend whole time rehabbing, and got to do a lot of skill and conditioning work.

BTW you putting Howard at 5 is that a joke? ESPN and the rest of the world knows he's number 2 at worst.

Melo and Amare were still as individually great last year as they've ever been and they've actually led their teams to deep playoff runs in the recent past. And unless its an elite PG, great players almost always have greater impacts on teams with less talent around them.

He just has them beat statistically. Stats are obviously going to look a bit better on a bad team. Z-Bo was great statistically during the season and dominated the best team in the West in the playoffs. Gasol had a horrible playoffs, but I can't just ignore what he did in the past 3 regular seasons, and in the playoffs during their title runs. And the difference between this and what I said about Rose vs. CP3 and Kobe is that CP3 and Kobe have already been on the decline and look like they will continue to decline. I don't think the same about Gasol and Z-Bo yet. And if you're basing most of these things on stats, then there's no reason to not put Kevin Love ahead of all these players as well.

Its more about what those guys have been able to prove vs. what Blake has. Its not really his fault cause he hasn't been able to prove anything since he hasn't been able to play in a better situation where he would play in big games. Like I said, I'm sure Blake will surpass all of them sooner rather then later.

And I didn't rank Howard as #5, I said #3. I just think thats what they'll rank him as. They love Kobe and ignore his decline, and they love Lebron and ignore his constant disappearing acts.

[EricForman]

Royce Webb has been trying to be all clever dropping hints that he thinks is subtle, but really it's blatant. Kobe is 7. lock it in. He hinted it by saying 7 is an MVP winner and has a rabid delusional fanbase. So who else?

[JordanTime]

Then how the fvck did they lose? They're #1 & #2, right?

outside of Wade/Lebron/Bosh the team sucks. That is the main reason they lost.

The Mavs role players stepped up when it matter the most. We saw what happened in game 6 when Dirk was missing every shot, (1-12 in the first half i believe) but luckily for him Jason Terry, Tyson Chandler stellar defensive post presences, JJ Barrea the Mavs were winning.

And Rick Carlisle did a wonderful job making Lebron James passive.

[Clippersfan86]

Melo and Amare were still as individually great last year as they've ever been and they've actually led their teams to deep playoff runs in the recent past. And unless its an elite PG, great players almost always have greater impacts on teams with less talent around them.

He just has them beat statistically. Stats are obviously going to look a bit better on a bad team. Z-Bo was great statistically during the season and dominated the best team in the West in the playoffs. Gasol had a horrible playoffs, but I can't just ignore what he did in the past 3 regular seasons, and in the playoffs during their title runs. And the difference between this and what I said about Rose vs. CP3 and Kobe is that CP3 and Kobe have already been on the decline and look like they will continue to decline. I don't think the same about Gasol and Z-Bo yet.

Its more about what those guys have been able to prove vs. what Blake has. Its not really his fault cause he hasn't been able to prove anything since he hasn't been able to play in a better situation where he would play in big games. Like I said, I'm sure Blake will surpass all of them sooner rather then later.

And I didn't rank Howard as #5, I said #3. I just think thats what they'll rank him as. They love Kobe and ignore his decline, and they love Lebron and ignore his constant disappearing acts.

I understand your point man. I'm just saying me or ESPN saying Blake is the 10th best player isn't disrespectful in any way. If they ranked him top 5 fine... but he has a great case against the other 10-15 spots. It's unfair for us to judge him based on team success as a rookie or to say Melo has accomplished more in his career etc. This ESPN ranking is about rank of a players skill and talent NOW. I doubt they are really factoring in past success etc.

[Clippersfan86]

My list I posted in ESPN's top 20 thread other day. Let's see how close I am.

1. Dwight Howard
2. Lebron James
3. Dwyane Wade
4. Chris Paul
5. Dirk Nowitzki
6. Kobe Bryant
7. Kevin Durant
8. Deron Williams
9. Derrick Rose
10. Blake Griffin

So far I got Deron/Rose crossed...

[mountainmamba]

RoyceWebb Royce Webb, ESPN NBA
#NBArank hint: There are three players with MVPs in the top 7. When No. 7 is announced, there will be two remaining.

So number 7 is an MVP too. Gotta be kobe. no way they let dirk or lebron slip this low

[greensborohill]

outside of Wade/Lebron/Bosh the team sucks. That is the main reason they lost.

The Mavs role players stepped up when it matter the most. We saw what happened in game 6 when Dirk was missing every shot, (1-12 in the first half i believe) but luckily for him Jason Terry, Tyson Chandler stellar defensive post presences, JJ Barrea the Mavs were winning.

And Rick Carlisle did a wonderful job making Lebron James passive.

In basketball, 5 players from each team can be on the court at one time, right?

Football you get 11, Baseball 9, but in basketball you get 5?

And in crunch time, you're saying that in your mind, the Heat had the #1, #2, and #24 guys in the entire NBA playing as 3 of their 5? But yet they got beat by a team with (in your mind) #3, two other guys that are low in the top 50, and two other guys that are in the 70's (I think). But you justify them being #1 & #2 b/c Dallas had a better bench? But only 5 guys can play at a time?

Sure, makes sense to me.

At some point people need to stop looking at empty azz sh!tty azz stats and look at a players impact on the game. If #1 & #2 couldn't finish off #3, then #3 isn't #3. . . he's #1.