[R-Dot-13Participant]

Who is it?
Lets see..

1. Carmelo Anthony
It was between him and Durant for me, Both great scorers, and still young. Anthony has been on the league longer though, and has more experience. 2 of the 3 best scorers in the West for sure, but I give it to Anthony for now. He can explode for a ton of points whenever he wants, and he also is the best player on a championship contender, its Melo, for now.

2. Kevin Durant
Still so young, but so good. I almost put him at #1, but not yet. He is on a great young team, and they will be very good in a couple years. He could be the best scorer in the league already, and hes only 21. Along with Westbrook, Harden and Green they have an amazing future. Durant may lead the league in scoring this year. Dont be one bit surprised if Durant passes Carmelo very soon.

3. Tracy McGrady
Tough.. very tough. The guy has to stay healthy, but there is no questioning the talent he has, and had. Former scoring champ, all star. He was one of the best scorers in the league until injuries slowed him down. He’ll be out for a few games this season, but hopefully he comes back off the injury strong.

4. Stephen Jackson
There is no doubting the type of numbers this guy puts up. Hes a 20+ ppg guy, and with his size, and skill set he is a matchup nightmare. The best player on a young and upcoming GS team, watch for him to put up all-star type numbers this year.

5. Rudy Gay
It was between him and Josh Howard, but I give it to Rudy. Still super young, and crazy athletic. He is just waiting to breakout. He is also on a young team with a great future. In the future, watch for Mayo and Gay to be one of the best duo’s in the league. Gay is going to put up very good numbers this year, and hope for an all star type season.

Any thoughts?
Anyone I missed?

[QHaynes20]

Maybe Ron Artest?

[jeff416Participant]

1) Kevin Durant
2) Carmelo Anthony
3) Rudy Gay
4) Ron Artest
5) Tracy Mcgrady

[RUDEBOY]

THE 1ST 2 PLAYERS WERE RIGHT ON THE MONEY..DURANT IS GREAT..BUT DOES NOTHING TO MAKE HIS TEAMMATES BETTER..CARMELO HAS IMPROVED A LITTLE IN THAT AREA..INCREASING HIS REBOUNDING & ASSISTS TOTALS LAST SEASON.. U RATED STEPHEN JACKSON WAAAAAAAAAYYY TOO HIGH…HE’S A GOOD BENCH PLAYER..VERY CLUTCH LATE IN GAMES..I’LL LOVE TO HAVE HIM ON MY TEAM..BUT HE’S NOT AN ALL-STAR TYPE PLAYER..AND NEVER WILL BE…INJURIES HAVE HELD BACK T-MAC..CAN U BELIEVE IT WAS ONLY A FEW YEARS AGO FOLKS WERE ASKING WHO WAS BETTER HIM OR KOBE? LOOK FOR RUDY TO MAKE THE ALL-STAR GAME THIS SEASON…RICHARD JEFFFERSON & DERON WILLIAMS HAVE BEE THE 2 MOST UNDERRATED PLAYERS IN THE LEAGUE..

[BasketballGuru24Participant]

Im pretty sure Mcgrady Can’t Be 3rd right now . He is too injury prone

1) Carmelo
2) durant
3) Ron Ron
4) Rudy Gay
5) Richard Jefferson

[R-Dot-13Participant]

Yeah, i could have put Artest and Jefferson in there too, theres a lot of possibilities here.

[trojans13Participant]

i’m fine either way with melo or KD on top of the list. both just score so easily and do it in bunches. neither of them are the exactly the most rounded player but man can they score. i dont think T-mac or stephen jackson need to be anywhere near the top 5. i dont think we’ll ever see the old t-mac again unfortunately. stephen jackson does more harm than good. i think you can add RJ and artest to the list in the place of those 2

[trojans13Participant]

left out Rudy, i think he’s easily #3 on the list. After last season and the summer with USA basketball, looks like its all starting to come together for him

[JoeWolf1]

What about Josh Howard now? I’d put him over TMac ( he is a 2 guard ) and do you guys think players like Al Thorton and Earl Clark will be on the list in 3 years? any other rising stars at SF?

[trojans13Participant]

i would rank jefferson and artest 4 & 5 on this list, but if howard cound find a way to stay healthy for a season i think he could easily become a top 5 SF once again.

as far as thornton goes, it will be interesting to see what kind of production he will put up. he will certainly get his, he always does, but i would have to imagine his number of shot attempts might go down a bit with the addition of griffen, plus the number of shots already being taken between gordon and baron.

[JoeWolf1]

I agree with you on Thorton, he is mainly an offensive guy and a guy like Eric Gordon is in my opinion going to go from a 15 ppg to an 18-20ppg this season. He is an interesting talent, I think the Clips should trade him for more of a defensive glue guy at Sf, because your right they do have a lot of offense, but I think in the right situation he could be a 20 and 7 guy in a couple years.

[quincey hodges]

i pretty much agree..you cant put durant over melo right now because as far as scoring bouth put up points and melo can put it up in more ways plus hes lead his team to the playoffs and hes a better defender . id have to have artest over jackson and gay because even though he doesnt score as much hes not that far off and he plays better d. he actually woul be scoring as much as them on a lesser team..are the lakers the only team with a top 5 player in 4 out of the 5 positions int he west?..nba?

[gatorheelsParticipant]

I would put Kirilenko in the top 5 for sure.  If you are considering him a SF.  I know he can play SF or PF.

[JoeWolf1]

Mabye from 03-06 he tore it up then, but his play has dropped off in the last couple years. If he can stay healthy and put up those 15 8 and 3 numbers he did back then, i would put him there, but I know numbers aren’t everything, but If you are going to go with a defensive guy i’d go with Battier, and both those guys are in the top 10 sf’s in the west in my opinion. Not top 5

[gatorheelsParticipant]

JoeWolf1- You are right #s aren’t everything but look at what Kirilenko does in a full 48 minutes of playing time:

 20pts  8reb  5ast  2steals 2blocks 45%FG 79%FT

These stats clearly look like a top 5 SF.  Compared to the other SFs above Kirilenko deserves to be there. Plus he has great size/length for the position.

[llperez]

I would put Melo before Durant. After that, it is pretty close. But I can’t include Kirilenko on this list. He might stuff stats, but he hasn’t had the same impact from earlier in the decade in quite a while. I don’t think he even starts now does he?

[quincey hodges]

yeah but the stats at 48min are very skewed..just because you give someone that many minutes doesnt mean they will have the same out put ..if anything there numbers wont be as well because they will get tired while the guy they are checking will get rest then come back into the game refreshed. you cant ever go by what they MIGHT do per48min

[JoeWolf1]

Per 48 minutes im sure a guy like Reggie Evans would come close to leading the league in rebounds, but he isn’t even a top 10 power forward, I hear what you are saying, but you can’t rely on projected stats when it comes to listing the top players at a certain position.

[quincey hodges]

yep thats tru too..you gotta go by there whole body of work of what they have done up to this point..with 1-3 year players you can go by projected since they are still getting better but most you cant list as on of the top yet since most are not on that level yet, with few exeptions

[gatorheelsParticipant]

48 minutes doesn’t mean they are playing the whole game! Being tired has nothing to do with it.  This is just a way to compare stats at an even level.  You can compare two players when given the same amount of playing time. That is the fair way to compare players when looking at stats.  Anyways if I had a team I would pick Kirilenko over Jackson, Jefferson, or Gay at least for one year.  Kirilenko has great size/length, is versatile, can play PF if needed too, plus he can defend at a high level.

[quincey hodges]

what does per48 mean then. i always thought it ment what there projected stats would be if they played 48min. theres a reason kirilenko is in and out of the starting line up. most times he tries to do things on his own and sometimes he is lost. i know these things from living in utah and ewatching all there games as well as going to there games. yes hes talented and very very good when he gets with the program and realizes that he isnt the first or second option. thats something he has problems with though because he feels he should be option one and 2 and he feels hes a better jump shooter then he actually is. if he just went out and played his role, ala birdman, he could easily go back to his old highly rated self

[quincey hodges]

i just looked it up and per48 means what there stats would be per 48min of time

[Lemons4LifeParticipant]

Melo
Durant
Gay
Jackson
Thornton

I would not think of McGrady being a SF, but he would be up there if he was. Simple as that. 😀

[MkadozaParticipant]

Cannot be in the top 5 when he has trouble starting on his own team. He’s lost the mental edge and his offensive game has never been complete enough to be considered a top flight player. Top 5 defensive SF in the west maybe.

Carmelo and Durant are unquestionably the top 2, after that I’d put Artest. He has a complete game. He can defend with the best (he may be the best) and has as clean an offensive game as anyone. Rudy Gay goes 4th as hes got it all offensively, just a stronger comitment to the other aspects of the game would make him a superstar. Once again, for the last spot, you could make a case for Josh Howard, Richard Jefferson, Jeff Green (yes, Jeff Green), Tracy McGrady, but I’m going to go with Josh Howard. A do it all player that sometime looks like the best player on the Mavericks he’s got all the skills, offensively and defensively. Mental lapses are the only thing keeping him from being a legit star.

[quincey hodges]

yep yep

[Adi Joseph]

Stephen Jackson is clearly not a top five small forward. He’s a perfect example of a mediocre player putting up big numbers on a terrible team that likes to run.

[gatorheelsParticipant]

apparently you don’t understand what per 48 really means because being tired has nothing to do with it plus it isn’t skewed

Anyways- The only thing Rudy Gay does better than Kirilenko is shoot 3’s & score more. The same thing can be said about Richard Jefferson when comparing him to Kirilenko.  Stephen Jackson turns the ball over a lot & takes bad shots frequently. Kirilenko certainly isn’t the flashy player but he is very efficient.

[Michael.S.Participant]

Gay will surprise a ton of people this year i garuntee it.

[quincey hodges]

one of the writers from hoopsworld.com also gave me that answer so apparently he doesnt know what it means either.and kirilenko is a good all around player but not on jeffersons nor gays level. utah has been trying there best to get rid of him but teams dont think hes worth the big contract that he has, if he was he would have been traded by now…anyway although i dont agree stephen jackson isnt top 5 his stats are only slightly up scoring wise on gs then in was a couple years ago with atlanta and indiana in which he averaged 18plus. and i know for a fact that indiana wasnt nearly the run and gun team that golden state is. And kirilinko doesnt take as many shots yet takes almost as many bad shots( which is why loan cant always start or play him awhole lot) jackson also averages .48 more turnovers then andre even though he has the ball in his hands alot more. for a player whos his first 2nd leading scorer i dont think his turnovers are that bad..ill have to check other 1st and second options in a few seconds to see where he ranks as far as turnovers amoungst them

[llperez]

I don’t have a list of all the sf’s in front of me right now, but I have a real hard time believeing Al Thornton or Andrie Kirilenko are on it. Josh Howard, Richard Jefferson, Ron Artest, Shawn Marion, Stephen Jackson, Rudy gay, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant are all ahead of those two imo.

[JNixonParticipant]

Rudy Gay has the potential to be a top 5 player in the NBA, especially if he plays D, passes more and develops his jumper more. I’ve always thought he’s had all the potential in the world, and he’s shown me that he can at least tap into it. He plays much more aggressive and selfish (gift and a curse) than he used to at UCONN.

[quincey hodges]

he averages . something more then ray allen and around the same assist not saying hes better then ray allen just commenting on the turnover issue
same with ben gordan …and since his scoring more is factored into the offense you also have to factor in that his turnovers will be alil higher from that run and gun offense

[R-Dot-13Participant]

Ok, i probably made a mistake about Jackson, Richard Jefferson may be the one to be there.

[quincey hodges]

oh i agree its a cool way to compare i was saying people( not you) shouldnt use thaqt as a end all . because ive talked to some who argue all night about how a player should get more time and be a allstar because of his per 48

[baggins13Participant]

marion and odom deserve consideration

[esperanzafleet69Participant]

many of u forget about lots of offseason moves… thus… the top 5 list should look like this….

1. Carmelo Anthony
2. Kevin Durant (will probably get better than melo soon)
3.Richard jefferson
4. Shawn Marion (playin in a running offense and havin jason kidd at the point will help his scoring… he can also still defend multiple positions and rebound like crazy…)
5.Rudy Gay

other worthy people include artest S jackson…..

also to the dude who said kirelinko is top 5 u are retarded…

[gatorheelsParticipant]

quincey- per 48 minutes just takes the amount of playing time out of the equation.  You can compare stats from 2 players on an equal level. 

Stats don’t mean everything but this is a cool way to compare the players. 

[xbadgerhustlerParticipant]

Why are ppl riding jefferson’s jock strap so hard? the dude hasn’t been productive since he was running with Kidd… when he still had his youthful athleticism his defense and rebounding was very good. now he’s just a decent offensive option… he used to be grabbing like 6rpg… now 4? come on now…

[gatorheelsParticipant]

esperanzafleet69-Yeah I might be.  I would take Kirilenko over Marion though.

 

[JNixonParticipant]

I wont go as far as to say he isnt producing, because he scores at an elite level. He may not get a bunch of rebounds, but that is a very overrated stat. He’s a SF, he doesnt have to be a beast on the glass. He has frontcourt options for that. Jefferson’s main job as a player is to score and defend the other teams best perimeter player. I think he does that job good enough to be legitimately mentioned as a top 5 SF in the West.

[QHaynes20]

Richard Jefferson is one of 2 players to average 20 points while playing 82 games…..he does produce

[Michael.S.Participant]

Mty List

West

1 ) Melo by a hair over KD
2 ) KD
3 ) Gay
4 ) Odom
5 ) Artest

FYI McGrady is a SG with out a doubt.

[quincey hodges]

why is kd so close to melo to some of ya’ll…i dont think its that close since melo can score better then kd rebounds better(numbers dont fully show because melo also has nene kmart and birdman to contend with on the boards)..plays better defense and scores in more ways…im guessing its because of height on top of the kd hype..like some saying he might be better then lebron…thats not even close

[quincey hodges]

not too bad..anyone think al thorten will work his way into the top 6,7

[llperez]

I think Melo is clearly ahead of KD, and I’m surprised when people put KD ahead of Melo. I think it was Auber who actually said KD is one of the 5 best players in the game today.

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