http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8377308/2012-nba-player-rankings-61-70 Batum just checked in at 63, leaving Aldridge the only Blazer that ESPN hasn't ranked yet. 63) Nicolas Batum 109) Wes Matthews 202) J.J. Hickson 211) Damian Lillard* 268) Jared Jeffries 330) Meyers Leonard* 338) Nolan Smith 357) Sasha Pavlovic 373) Ronnie Price 401) Luke Babbit 409) Will Barton 422) Elliott Williams * - The rookies have really low rankings all across the board. I'm not sure why they even included them.
They say it's on the current quality of the player. How in the hell can Oden be at 372. At least Babbitt can get on the floor and show a specific NBA skill. now.Same with a lot of the guys from 401-500.
This list is always a joke, but this year it's not even on par with a joke. Lillard at 211 and MKG in the top 100? I don't know how they do the list but it screams Ric Buchar Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2
I think Babbitt could be useful if he played in D'Antoni's system. Hell, he made a player out of Channing. With the pace/movement it allowed Channing to park outside the three-point line all game and turned into one of the games best outside shooters. In fact, Channing racked up more DNP's his last year in Portland as Babbitt has.
would be interesting to compare their ranking (with the rookies taken out) to last season's PER or EFF.
ESPN doesn't define "Quality of a player". Thats why I think PER is a better system. This new ESPN ranking system is below Hollinger when he has a hangover and puking.
I though this would be an interesting discussion point in the off-season lull, but as some of you have alluded to, these rankings should be taken with a grain of salt. I happen to be good friends with one of the guys who voted in the "NBA Rank" this time around. He's a fraternity brother from back in the day, so I'm not going to publish his name, but I'll just say that he started watching basketball in general about three years before he got his first big writing job. I'd take any of your opinions on players over his. With that said, it should be interesting to see where the Blazers stack in the composite team rankings. A lot of stock can be put in Lillard, but it seems like the general population thinks the rest of the roster is very below average. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Blazers come in the bottom three of the composite team rankings. It may mean nothing in terms of what the Blazers do on the court next season, but it's still an interesting discussion point none the less.
I don't care about either of them. They both will not be with the team next season. All they are is Cap Room IMO.
