fukk espn: What’s your current top 10 going into the NBA season?

[IIVI]

Kind of in order and who I think are going to have great 2022-2023 seasons:

The ones people are mentioning:
Curry
Doncic
Jokic
Giannis
Booker
Ja
Embiid

My takes:
KAT (one of my favorites for MVP)
Zion (going to have New Orleans looking like a legit contender)
Trae (Murray going to do good things off Trae's playmaking)

Everyone talking about jumbo point guard this jumbo point guard that, that means if Zion is healthy the Pelicans going to put the league in trouble. Now that the Pelicans have good veterans, dude ready to make the leap.

 

[CrimsonTider]

Ja hasn’t done anything to be mentioned in the top
10.

he’s quickly becoming the most overrated nikka in the league

Neither has Embiid but play well when it doesn’t matter

 

[Armchair Militant]

Giannis
Steph
KD
Luka
Embiid
Jokic
LeBron
Kawhi
Butler
Tatum

 

[MyApps]

No.

Wow, never thought you would say Bron ain't the KING.

Noted.

 

[stepbackj34spud]

Giannas
KD
Steph
Embiid
Joker
Bron

Top 6

 

[Shadow King]

Wow, never thought you would say Bron ain't the KING.

Noted.

No Sis, AD is not better and Kawhi hasn't played in a year and half. No to that.

 

[MyApps]

No Sis, AD is not better and Kawhi hasn't played in a year and half. No to that.

Your original answer was already noted. I can't do anything about that.

 

[Shadow King]

Your original answer was already noted. I can't do anything about that.

Wasn't aware that your "notes" mattered.

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

Ja hasn’t done anything to be mentioned in the top
10.

he’s quickly becoming the most overrated nikka in the league

 

[CP3.]

cba doing it in any order but:

Giannis
KD
LeBron
Curry
Jokic
Luka
Ja
Tatum
Embiid
Kawhi

Really wanted to put Trae in here though

 

[UpAndComing]

1. Tatum
2. Brown
3. Tatum
4. Brown
5. Tatum
6. Brown
7. Tatum
8. Brown
9. Tatum
10. Brown

 

[Th3Birdman]

LeBron casually led the league in scoring at 37, while still giving you his career average in rebounds and assists.

LeBron is still the best all around and most versatile player in the NBA

No one combines the size, strength, speed, vision, scoring ability and consistency that man gives you on a night in, night out basis.

He's still top 2 or 3 in the NBA, period.

Let's look at all the guys you people try to put over him:

Spoiler: Curry vs Bron

LeBron is legitimately a better all around player than Steph. I don't need to pull out their numbers for this, but Steph only played 8 more games than LeBron and got 5 less points on about the same attempts, and the same amount of assists, even though Steph is a point guard. Steph obviously is the better FT shooter, and only made 1.6 more threes per game (while taking three more attempts per game) and that's basically his claim to fame. LeBron just does more things offensively and defensively, including the ability to guard 1-4 effectively. If Steph has a bad shooting night, he is effectively useless. LeBron is still grabbing rebounds and dropping dimes, and doesn't get hidden on defense

Spoiler: Giannis vs Bron

The only metric Giannis beats LeBron is total rebounds per game (11.6 to 8.2), which he should, because he's a seven footer and not a perimeter player, even though he wants to be and spends a significant amount of time out there. LeBron beats him in points, assists, free throws, steals and has a similar number of blocks (1.1 to 1.4). You really cannot make a case for Giannis being better than LeBron offensively, and you have to turn to the defensive side, which I would give the nod to Giannis. At its absolute worst, this is a barely even matchup.

Spoiler: Kawhi vs Bron

Spoiler: Luka vs Bron

This is an offensive contest. Luka has Bron beat in assists and rebounds, and LeBron beats him in scoring and scoring on significantly better efficiency, on every area of the court. They shot and made about the same number of threes. Bron shot a higher percentage from the line, had less turnovers, more steals and more blocks. There isn't a world were Luka loses in this many stats and he's better than Bron.

Spoiler: Morant vs Bron

I saw Morant mentioned earlier and I was completely puzzled. LeBron beats Morant in literally every single statistical area that we measure, including defensive win shares. You literally cannot back up the claim that Morant is better than LeBron in any area of basketball, and Bron did this in his 19th season.

Spoiler: Tatum vs Bron

Another puzzling selection. LeBron beat him in every single statistical measure except free throw shooting. Defensively, I think Tatum is better than LeBron, but LeBron has been coasting for a minute, so it's hard to compare.

Spoiler: Durant vs Bron

Yet another player LeBron is statistically better than in every single stat, outside of free throw shooting and 3 point shooting percentage (even though LeBron made MORE threes than Durant last year. LeBron's percentage is lower because Durant took 3 less attempts per game). Durant played one less game than LeBron last year, so I'm not even sure where people are getting this from.

Spoiler: Embiid vs Bron

This is a wash, and I can understand people going either way. They are essentially dead even from a statistical point of view (Joel wins in scoring*, rebounds and FTs, LeBron wins in assists, FGs, steals and 3s). I reluctantly give Embiid the defensive nod, but when you're probably the biggest player in the NBA, and you guard nobodies for the majority of the season, it's not really a fair comparison. Embiid dominates a weak position, being a true Center in a game full of 230lb SFs and PFs playing "Center".

LeBron plays the most competitive position in the league, and even then, he's guarding multiple positions, which Embiid does not do. LeBron's defensive numbers took a hit because of Vogel playing him out of position against guys like KAT, and the Lakers being a terrible defensive rotation team. It's not a fair comparison.

*Also, Embiid's scoring win was inflated by LeBron not playing the last couple of games. That could be considered a wash too.

Spoiler: Jokic vs Bron

This is the player I would say comes the closest to supplanting LeBron as the best player in the NBA (numbers-wise). He destroys LeBron on the boards, shoots a better percentage than LeBron overall and from the line, and beats his assist numbers. LeBron is the better pure scorer and shooter. As all around players, they are incredibly close, and anyone arguing for Nikola over Father Bron would get zero argument for me.

The top three players in the game are currently

Spoiler: Top 10 NBA Players

1. Jokic
2. LeBron
3. Embiid

Steph, KD, Tatum, Luka, Kawhi and Giannis get in where they fit in. I would rank them like this, but I wouldn't really care how you ordered these guys:

4. Giannis
5. KD
6. Luka
7. Steph
8. Tatum
9. Kawhi

10. Morant/Butler/Young/AD?

If AD remains healthy this season, he'll be a top 5 player. Who he kicks out of the top 10, I don't know

 

[jaydawg08]

If you don't have Bron as top 5 then I dont take your list seriously

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

If you don't have Bron as top 5 then I dont take your list seriously

Bron is no longer a definitive top-5 player, especially heading into this season.

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

LeBron casually led the league in scoring at 37, while still giving you his career average in rebounds and assists.

LeBron is still the best all around and most versatile player in the NBA

No one combines the size, strength, speed, vision, scoring ability and consistency that man gives you on a night in, night out basis.

He's still top 2 or 3 in the NBA, period.

The game isn't played in the box score.

He didn't lead the league in scoring last season -- that was Embiid.

And I don't quite see the sense in bringing that up either, when he wasn't even in the top-15 for scoring in 2021, and you wouldn't dare count that against him in top-5 discussions that season, would you? As impressive as he's played entering his late-30s, the Lakers were not a competitive team last season, so he was putting up the majority of his points in low stakes moments. This is to go along with the fact he hasn't had a proper playoff run since 2020, and that matters in this context when comparing him to other players who have had multiple since then.

His legacy nor your affinity for his attributes gives him capital when speaking about who the best player(s) are right now.

LeBron vs. top players

All of this is patently ridiculous.

I must reiterate, in fact, I stress - the game is NOT played in the box score.

You can't just blindly use surface stats when comparing players, as if it's some counting game. You're completely abandoning context and jumping overboard without a life-vest. Nobody should be using points, rebounds and assists to determine who's the better player; box score stats are a red herring when evaluating players.

If AD remains healthy this season, he'll be a top 5 player. Who he kicks out of the top 10, I don't know

If you believe this, than there's no excuse for the Lakers not to have one of the best records this season and go deep into the playoffs.