I don't think he's top 10, but he's started 8 of the 9 games he's played in, with the only game off the bench after he missed two weeks. Yes, he is the starter.
It's hard to rank a top 10....I think it's easier to rank guys in Tiers (in no order) Tier 1 CP3 Rondo Rose Deron Tier 2 Irving Parker Westbrook Tier 3 Nash Lowry Lillard Wall Dragic Rubio Jennings Conley Holliday Curry Lawson Tier 4 Mo Will Jeff Teague Kemba Walker George Hill Jeremy Lin Lillard could jump up to Tier 2 by next year if he keeps this up imo. There are so many good PG's in the league right now.
I was noticing that. I clicked on this thread to see where everyone had Mike Conley. I figured that he'd probably crack most top 10's, figuring that he was #11 in apg, #2 in spg, and very efficient, but after looking at the lists, he's got to be on the outside looking in. The league went from a very shallow PG pool to a very deep PG pool seemingly overnight. It seems like it was just yesterday that the most valuable asset a team could have was a good floor-general type PG, but I guess every team has one nowadays. I actually agree with your assessment and your tiers 100%. The only thing I might change would be dropping John Wall to Tier 4, just because I hate his style of play and think he'd be much better off at the two, like a less talented version Westbrook. However, with his talent level, I guess you have to put him in at least Tier 3, just like you have to at least have Westbrook in Tier 2.
Rajon Rondo Chris Paul Derrick Rose Russell Westbrook Tony Parker Deron Williams Steve Nash Kyrie Irving John Wall Ty Lawson Mike Conley Goran Dragic Jrue Holliday Brandon Jennings Lillard comes in right after that, IMO
Funny how many people have forgotten Stephen Curry. And Jeff Teague, who is kicking ass for Atlanta. And remember when Tyreke Evans was ROY at PG? And there's also Brandon Knight, who looked pretty damn good against Lillard, and Darren Collison (who's dropped off a cliff recently, but looked great at the start of the season), and Brandon Jennings (looking more like the rookie version) and George Hill, who displaced Collison, and who looked pretty good against the Lakers. If you rank the PGs by PER, here's what you get: Code: 1 Chris Paul, LAC 14 34.7 .577 36.7 9.4 22.5 2.1 10.5 6.5 24.43 97.4 3.2 2 Jimmer Fredette, SAC 12 9.4 .646 15.2 11.4 25.3 1.0 4.3 2.6 23.28 20.7 0.7 3 Eric Bledsoe, LAC 14 18.9 .584 20.1 14.2 24.1 9.2 8.8 9.0 23.26 48.3 1.6 4 Kyle Lowry, TOR 9 32.8 .563 25.6 10.0 23.9 3.4 19.4 10.9 22.89 52.3 1.7 5 Goran Dragic, PHX 15 32.9 .593 30.8 10.1 22.0 3.2 7.4 5.2 22.73 86.3 2.9 6 Russell Westbrook, OKC 15 35.9 .512 26.7 9.1 29.4 4.6 9.9 7.5 22.33 91.0 3.0 7 Jason Kidd, NY 12 26.1 .761 36.6 7.1 11.1 1.8 12.8 7.2 21.32 48.2 1.6 8 Rajon Rondo, BOS 13 38.5 .552 46.9 11.3 20.9 2.0 13.5 7.8 21.02 74.8 2.5 9 Kyrie Irving, CLE 10 35.2 .567 18.7 13.7 29.4 1.6 11.9 6.3 20.37 49.2 1.6 10 Tony Parker, SA 14 31.9 .521 27.4 8.2 26.6 1.4 9.8 5.8 20.03 60.2 2.0 RK PLAYER GP MPG TS% AST TO USG ORR DRR REBR PER VA EWA 11 Mike Conley Jr., MEM 11 33.7 .599 30.0 13.3 20.8 1.9 8.3 5.1 19.79 48.7 1.6 12 Deron Williams, BKN 13 35.8 .521 31.9 11.0 25.9 2.0 7.8 4.9 19.71 60.4 2.0 13 Brandon Jennings, MIL 12 35.7 .485 27.2 8.2 23.5 1.6 8.5 4.9 19.50 54.3 1.8 14 Jeff Teague, ATL 12 30.6 .551 31.9 13.2 23.2 1.9 8.1 5.1 19.00 43.8 1.5 15 Damian Lillard, POR 14 36.8 .566 23.4 12.5 24.2 1.9 9.0 5.2 18.97 61.2 2.0 16 Ramon Sessions, CHA 13 28.5 .503 17.9 9.0 27.0 2.1 13.3 7.5 18.69 42.6 1.4 17 Jrue Holiday, PHI 15 38.5 .535 29.5 14.3 26.1 2.3 8.6 5.4 18.28 62.7 2.1 18 Tyreke Evans, SAC 14 32.4 .527 18.8 10.7 21.8 2.7 16.3 9.2 17.95 47.0 1.6 19 Brian Roberts, NO 13 14.6 .553 24.0 9.7 24.5 1.9 4.9 3.4 17.86 19.5 0.6 20 Beno Udrih, MIL 11 18.5 .523 28.6 12.6 22.1 3.3 14.4 8.7 17.64 20.2 0.7 RK PLAYER GP MPG TS% AST TO USG ORR DRR REBR PER VA EWA 21 Raymond Felton, NY 13 33.5 .491 28.4 9.9 24.6 1.8 7.3 4.5 16.92 38.4 1.3 22 Nate Robinson, CHI 13 21.5 .534 22.1 11.6 25.4 2.1 10.4 6.2 16.85 24.5 0.8 23 Kemba Walker, CHA 13 36.9 .481 22.4 9.7 23.0 2.3 9.1 5.6 16.79 41.5 1.4 24 Jose Calderon, TOR 15 30.3 .548 40.6 10.4 18.6 1.5 7.1 4.1 16.75 39.0 1.3 25 Jerryd Bayless, MEM 12 17.4 .559 26.9 13.5 21.1 0.6 8.5 4.6 16.34 16.7 0.6 26 Monta Ellis, MIL 12 35.3 .476 17.9 10.2 27.1 1.8 8.6 5.1 15.81 30.3 1.0 27 Mo Williams, UTAH 12 32.6 .502 28.8 10.7 22.5 2.3 5.6 3.9 15.80 28.0 0.9 28 Alexey Shved, MIN 13 22.9 .496 26.0 10.7 22.0 3.4 9.5 6.5 15.40 19.6 0.7 29 Darren Collison, DAL 15 32.7 .526 29.8 12.1 20.2 0.7 6.7 3.8 15.37 31.9 1.1 30 Shannon Brown, PHX 15 22.9 .508 14.3 9.1 24.0 2.3 8.8 5.4 15.36 22.3 0.7 RK PLAYER GP MPG TS% AST TO USG ORR DRR REBR PER VA EWA 31 George Hill, IND 15 35.1 .503 25.1 9.5 20.2 2.2 10.1 6.2 15.25 33.4 1.1 32 Greivis Vasquez, NO 13 33.4 .505 34.4 14.1 24.7 1.4 12.5 7.1 14.97 25.7 0.9 33 Andre Miller, DEN 15 25.3 .541 33.2 15.3 19.2 4.4 8.2 6.3 14.93 22.2 0.7 34 Jose Juan Barea, MIN 8 20.5 .495 32.0 13.0 22.5 4.8 12.4 8.6 14.77 9.2 0.3 35 Gary Neal, SA 13 21.5 .580 15.3 9.7 18.4 1.7 13.3 7.8 14.64 15.2 0.5 36 Jameer Nelson, ORL 7 33.1 .507 28.2 12.1 20.7 2.0 12.9 7.7 14.41 11.8 0.4 37 Luke Ridnour, MIN 13 31.5 .526 26.4 9.7 17.6 1.7 9.1 5.4 14.06 18.7 0.6 38 Ty Lawson, DEN 15 36.5 .460 29.8 12.5 21.9 2.9 4.7 3.8 14.02 24.7 0.8 39 Sebastian Telfair, PHX 15 17.3 .478 27.9 8.8 18.2 2.6 9.8 6.0 13.55 9.9 0.3 40 Jarrett Jack, GS 14 24.6 .513 31.3 11.1 18.0 0.7 12.0 6.5 13.54 13.1 0.4 RK PLAYER GP MPG TS% AST TO USG ORR DRR REBR PER VA EWA 41 Aaron Brooks, SAC 14 21.7 .558 21.5 7.2 15.8 1.8 8.3 5.0 13.53 11.5 0.4 42 Jeremy Lin, HOU 14 33.9 .460 30.5 14.0 19.0 2.6 12.2 7.5 12.87 13.3 0.4 43 Brandon Knight, DET 15 31.6 .543 27.9 16.0 21.5 1.2 12.0 6.6 12.60 11.3 0.4 44 Randy Foye, UTAH 15 24.7 .561 12.7 8.5 18.7 0.9 4.4 2.6 12.52 8.4 0.3 45 A.J. Price, WSH 12 29.9 .468 31.3 10.1 18.5 2.4 10.0 6.0 12.18 6.3 0.2 46 Isaiah Thomas, SAC 12 20.4 .560 17.5 16.8 20.7 2.3 5.4 3.8 12.04 3.8 0.1 47 Mario Chalmers, MIA 13 26.4 .501 35.5 13.0 15.0 0.8 10.8 6.1 12.02 5.2 0.2 48 C.J. Watson, BKN 13 20.4 .478 21.1 10.5 18.1 4.4 2.2 3.3 11.78 3.1 0.1 49 Jeremy Pargo, CLE 8 24.0 .511 19.5 13.8 22.1 1.7 7.5 4.3 11.64 1.8 0.1 50 Patrick Mills, SA 13 11.5 .543 17.0 17.0 19.5 3.3 8.1 5.8 11.51 1.1 0.0
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/statistics/_/position/pg/sort/VORPe Lillard looks good from an "ESTIMATED WINS ADDED" POV.
Regardless of where Lillard fits on that list, it doesn't make us need him any less. Maybe more, in fact. I'm glad we have him. When's the next draft?
When you look over Rasta's list, the only guy above Lillard who averages as many or more minutes is Rondo. And only 5 are even at 35 mpg (compared to Lillard's 36.8 mpg). I'd rather have a 37mpg PG with a PER of 19 like Lillard than a guy like Teague who has the same PER but plays 6 fewer minutes. What's striking about Lillard is not just how good he is as a rookie, but that he can be that good as a rookie when playing about as many minutes as any PG in the league.
using the awesome Basketball Monster site (which has a large part to do with me leading my fantasy league again) and adjusting it to reflect our 8 categories (points, 3's made, FTs made, FG%, Assts, Blks, Stls, RBs), heres a straight stats take on the top 15 PGs this season on a per game basis. The number preceeding each player is where they rank among all players 1/8. Chris Paul 2/10. Kyle Lowry 3/13. Westbrook 4/14. Kyrie Irving 5/16. Goran Dragic 6/17. Rajon Rondo 7/19. Jrue Holiday 8/25. Brandon Jennings 9/26. Damian Lillard 10/28. Mike Conley 11/31. Deron Williams 12/35. Stephen Curry 13/39. Kemba Walker 14/52. Jeff Teague 15/71. Tony Parker STOMP
...for fantasy hoops. Not that PG play isn't important in actual Bball, but the only guys on my list with a championship are (#17)Rondo and (#71)Parker STOMP
