http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9683995/nba-houston-rockets-nba-top-10-backcourts #1 Rockets #5 Lakers and look who made #10
This is probably the one time I agree with all the Blazer lemmings Portland and GS both deserve to be ahead of Minnesota, Dallas and Denver
Don't see how Rockets could be #1. Harden is not the best guard in the NBA and Lin is a below average starting PG. Clippers, Warriors, Nets are all much better.
1-Houston-Lin,Harden,Beverly 2-San Antonio-Ginobli,Parker,Green 3-Miami-Wade,Chalmers,Allen 4-Clippers-CP3,Crawford,Reddick 5-Lakers-Kobe,Nash,Meeks 6-Indy-George,Hill,Watson 7-Denver-Lawson,Robinson,Fournier 8-Dallas-Calderon,Ellis,Harris 9-Minny-Rubio,Martin,Barea 10-PDX-Lillard,Mathews,Williams 11-OKC 12-Golden State 13-Brooklyn 14-Wiz 21-Chicago
Yeah it would be disappointing if our backcourt was worse than those teams. Unless Rubio becomes an all-star and Kevin Martin scores 20+ppg. The odd thing is I feel like our forwards might be better than our guards. Heat, Spurs, OKC, Indy, Brooklyn are have superior forwards; Aldridge and Batum pair are probably better than Dallas, Clips, or Bulls so that would make our forwards the 6th best group. Don't see how people could think we are only a borderline playoff team. Either I'm way overrating our players or this Blazer team is flying far under the radar. One reason I'm very excited for this season; either this team shocks a lot of the league and wins a good amount of games. Or they disappoint and management begins blowing up a few things to retool or rebuild. Should be fireworks one way or the other.
Golden state especially. If they're considering paul George part of Indy's backcourt, then Iguodala should be part of the Warriors'. Curry/Iggy/Thompson should be top three at worst.
My backcourt ranks: 4-Clippers-CP3,Crawford,Reddick 12-Golden State 13-Brooklyn 2-San Antonio-Ginobli,Parker,Green 6-Indy-George,Hill,Watson 11-OKC 10-PDX-Lillard,Mathews,Williams 3-Miami-Wade,Chalmers,Allen 1-Houston-Lin,Harden,Beverly 21-Chicago 9-Minny-Rubio,Martin,Barea 5-Lakers-Kobe,Nash,Meeks 7-Denver-Lawson,Robinson,Fournier 8-Dallas-Calderon,Ellis,Harris 14-Wiz Wow I really don’t understand how ESPN can come up with theirs. Miami is very average overall team without Lebron. If you had switched him with the best player on any other playoff team LeBron wins the title. Lin and Beverly are poor rotational players. Harden is a stud but so is Derrick Rose. Kobe hasn’t been one of the elite NBA players for half a decade.
WARP is such a wierd stat. When it comes into play it always seems to not coincide with the "eye test" . I personally disagree with these rankings but they are based not on that guys personal opinion but on WARP. Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
Can't say I am overly impressed by anyone's back court. I mean there are some good ones, but not much separation from the pack. I agree with those who think GS's should be near the top. I would think Cleveland's would be up there too. They must not think much of Waiters. But Irving and CJ Miles might be decent. (With Jack in the mix) Bottom line for me: The Blazers are not far behind
Who, pray tell, is better than Harden? At this point, I would put Harden just about even with (a healthy) CP3.
Well you could make a great case for Harden. But he hasn't performed well in the playoffs. I'd rather have Steph Curry, CP3 or Tony Parker. Deron, Westbrook, Rose, Rondo, Wade, Irving are all similarly talented. The difference is most of those players have superior sidekicks in the backcourt. Harden isn't a superstar talent like LeBron or Durant that on his own can elevate his teams talent above the rest of the field.
The Lakers #5 ranking is 100% dependent on two very old players remaining healthy all season - like they couldn't do last year. BNM
The laker hate around here cracks me up sometimes. It clouds common sense. You are saying that THIS player hasn't been one of the better players in the NBA over the past 5 seasons? #PLEASEGETTHEFUCKOUTOFHERE
Gasol and Bynum a few years ago were the best big man tandem in the NBA. Lamar Odom wasn't hitting the crack pipe yet, he was one of the most versatile talents winning 6th man awards. Phil Jackson was coaching. Many guards could have won a title when paired with that group. Kobe was definitely an all-star but he was not a top 5 NBA player. He is living off his past reputation. He's got defensive team votes for the last decade while being far below average on that end of the court. He has chocked in the clutch of multiple playoff games, to have guys like Artest bail him out. Dwight Howard, LeBron, Dirk, Durant and CP3 have been more valuable on the court for many years now. Kobe is in the next rung of talents with guys like Melo; still very good but he has not been a top5 player for a long time.
So, are there only 5 "elite" players in the league at any one time? BTW, over the last five seasons (half a decade). Kobe Bryant has scored 9998 points. Only Durant (10,634) and LeBron (10,392) have scored more. Wade is 4th, but he's more than 1000 points behind Kobe. Melo is 5th, over 1400 points behind Kobe and Dirk is 6th, over 2000 points behind Kobe. Here's a list of all players that have scored 5000, or more, points over the last 5 seasons. Nice to see LaMarcus Aldridge at #8. Not sure how you define "elite", but I'd say the guy who is third in scoring, has won two rings and is the two-time finals MVP in the last five seasons qualifies. If you look accomplishments over the past half decade, I'd say LeBron (scored slightly more, also has two rings and two finals MVPs) is the only player who has accomplished more. Durant has scored more, but has zero rings to show for it. Wade has two rings over that span, but is clearly the 2nd banana on his own team. I hate the prick, but history is on his side in this case. His accomplishments speak for themselves. BNM
