Last summer, Kelly Dwyer (aka JGeils) wrote a very good series of articles prospectively ranking NBA players by position. Here's his top 10 PFs. As you'll see, Kelly had Boozer at #6 coming into the season. With the season just about behind us, whaddya think Kelly's 2011 rankings should look like and where do you put Boozer? Clearly, the top 10 is going to need to make room for Blake Griffin. Also, Kevin Love (#10) and Zach Randolph (#9) should make a big moves up.
Dirk Duncan KG Griffin Love Pau Randolph Amare Bosh Horford (but people would probably see him as a C) I'm sure I missed someone but I'd take all those guys over Boozer.
Amare, Gasol, and KG are my top 3, and by a bit over the others. LMA is up there. I think we're forgetting how good Boozer has been and was for us when healthy. For a good part of the season, his PER for us was as high as Rose's, if not higher. And that was when Rose was near the top of the league in scoring. No doubt we want that Boozer, and not the hobbled one we saw at the end of the season and playoffs.
The good-Boozer/bad-Boozer split we had in the season makes it hard to rank him. At his best he's firmly in the second tier behind guys like Pau, Amare, and Dirk. Bad Boozer is third tier behind the guys everyone mentioned. I think it's safe to say LMA is permanently ahead of him. Even Boozer at his best couldn't do what he did this season and he's entering his prime. I'm less inclined to attach importance to the seasons of Love and Randolph. Obviously they had better seasons, but I think there are extenuating circumstances for both. Randolph is the same age as Boozer and has been a ticking time-bomb his entire career. I think Boozer has always been ahead of him up until this season. I'm not sure if Randolph "got it" or if the stars aligned for him, but I have no idea if it's sustainable. As for Love, I just don't think he's nearly as good as his numbers advertise. He can't defend a paper bag and doesn't draw double teams. He seems to be easily shut down by good defense. He's a unique player, but not a great one. It would require a remarkable scheme and personnel to allow him to produce what he does now on a team that wins more than 50 games. I'd take good Boozer over him in a heartbeat, but not bad Boozer.
My guess is that Boozer gets passed up by Griffin, Aldridge, Randolph and Love, but stays ahead of the others mostly because he's still a stouter rebounder than those guys. That'd put him at #10.
I started a thread in the blazers forum, asking them to rank the top 10 PFs, and so far Boozer is #6 or #10 in all the lists posted. Good to have unbiased perspective, I figure. For fun, go ahead and rank SFs.
Everyone's biased in one way of the other. The Portland guys just don't happen to be biased against Boozer (although yuyuza1 and minstrel did leave him off their top-10s). If no one else does, I think I'll a thread for each position, but let's let this one breathe a bit longer...it's a long offseason and some of the precincts have not yet reported.
Unbiased or underinformed? I don't see how you can possibly put Boozer above 10. I think all these players are substantially better to the point where there is no argument. LMA Dirk Love Griffin Pau Bosh KG Randolph Amare Out of the list, LMA and Dirk stand above the rest to me.
Agreed. Although i'm not sure that the dominant LMA we saw for that 2 month stretch is the same LMA we'll see from now on. I'd put Amare and Dirk above the rest. There's no way Boozer is top 8, that's for sure.
I'd cry happy tears of joy with any of these 14 players rather than Boozer. Dirk Duncan KG Griffin Love Pau Randolph Amare Bosh Horford or Josh Smith Ibaka David West Scola Milsap I'd put Boozer in a tier with Elton Brand, David Lee, and probably some others.
JJ, would you rather we snagged Amare? Boozer seemed a better fit because he doesn't need to be the #1 option...
