Top 5 SG's.

anique_24 · Aug 19, 2009

Ranking the top five shooting guards for this upcoming season is an extremely difficult task, especially after you get outside the big three of Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, and Joe Johnson. There are so many gifted shooters in this league that it's hard to quantify who outranks whom; even harder is predicting who will have the best season in 2009-10.

Despite that, we're giving it a shot (so to speak), so here are your top five shooting guards for the upcoming NBA season:

(Author's Note: Brandon Roy was originally left off this list because I was, for some reason, viewing him as a point guard. Were I doing this over, he'd absolutely be ranked #3, followed by Johnson and Ginobili, which would push Ray Allen to the top of the Honorable Mention category).

#1 – Kobe Bryant – Not only is the 2008 league MVP and coming off a championship ring, but he's also the most dominant player in the game. Say whatever you want about LeBron James, but Kobe's got the rings, the experience, and the 81-point game under his belt. He may not have outscored Wade last year, but that doesn't mean he isn't the superior player. Not far superior by any means, but how is any argument plausible that puts Wade atop this list when Kobe's the guy he has to leapfrog?

#2 – Dwyane Wade – Arguably the best clutch shooter in the modern NBA, Wade is here not only because he led the league in scoring last season with 30.2 ppg, but also because his long list of difficult and amazing game-winners. By adding 5 points and 7.5 boards a game to his totals last year Wade made a strong case for best all-around player in the league, and even pulled some late MVP votes despite not really being in the conversation earlier on in the season. The man's a star, just like Kobe, which is why these guys are the top two off-guards in the league.

#3 – Joe Johnson – After Johnson the field drops off a little bit, but at the same time he's not quite in the same class as the first two guys on this list. Clearly the third-best shooting guard in the league, Johnson has done a lot for bringing the Atlanta Hawks back to credibility—an effort that's likely to be awarded heftily next summer when he very well could become the highest-profile free agent on the market to actually consider leaving his current team. At 21.4 points, 5.8 assists, and 4.4 rebounds a game (2008-09's statistics), he's certainly a game-changer and a team leader.

#4 – Manu Ginobili – Statistically, maybe Vince Carter should've been the fourth-best two-guard in the league, and considering Ginobili missed half the season last year due to injury, his place at fourth on this list could certainly be considered a gamble. But if he comes into this year healthy, his numbers will jump right back up that 19-20ppg mark again, and the Spurs are already heavily favored to be a Conference Championship team this year. At his best, Ginobili is a force, and even injured he's better than most.

#5 – Ray Allen – So why no Vince again? A couple of reasons. First of all, his numbers will probably see a drop in Orlando next year as his role will undoubtedly have to change in that Magic system. Even if he doesn't change his role and continues scoring 20+ points a night, it would be to the detriment of a really good young team, in which case I can't put him in the top five anyway. Compared to Ray Allen—someone who just never stops knocking down threes, including several clutch shots in last year's playoffs—Carter isn't quite the same class of player. He's an amazing athlete and the skill is certainly there, but in terms of being a better player and all-around shooter, Allen nips him out of the top five by a hair.

Honorable Mention: Vince Carter, Andre Iguodala, Kevin Martin, Ben Gordon, Richard Hamilton – It will be interesting to see what happens to Ben Gordon and Rip Hamilton in Detroit considering they'll have to share time and shots not only with each other but with Rodney Stuckey. Those two guys are last on this list for that reason and that reason alone, but both deserve to be in the top ten. Carter and Iguodala are amazingly freakish athletes, but are closer to the small forward side of the spectrum than pure shooter. Kevin Martin is a top-notch scorer, but his team is never competitive. It hurts to fault him for that, but it's hard to determine whether he'd post similar numbers on a winning team with more complementary star power.

Surely other young shooters will pop up the rankings this year as well, and maybe some of these honorable mention guys will prove me wrong. If Ginobili's ankle will never be the same, I'll be proved extremely wrong very quickly. But that's the beauty of the preseason; everyone can be optimistic about what's to come. For the best of the best, it's one more season chasing the title, and short of maybe Joe Johnson, all these guys in the top five have a legit shot at doing that.
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http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=13622

elcap15 · Aug 19, 2009

Roy is a SG and should be #3

anique_24 · Aug 19, 2009

Yep. It's crazy that he thinks Roy is a PG.

Webster's Dictionary · Aug 20, 2009

Yeah, he got ripped to shreds for not including Roy. How much can this guy know about the NBA if he thinks Roy is a PG? It would have been better for him to just say, I totally spaced him, then to say, oh, uh, I thought he was a PG. One is an innocent mistake, the other is ignorance.

elcap15 · Aug 20, 2009

Webster's Dictionary said: ↑

Yeah, he got ripped to shreds for not including Roy. How much can this guy know about the NBA if he thinks Roy is a PG? It would have been better for him to just say, I totally spaced him, then to say, oh, uh, I thought he was a PG. One is an innocent mistake, the other is ignorance.
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Exactly.

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Top 5 SG's.

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