[steviechillzParticipant]

I feel like the best way to rank players pre-preseason would be to rank them in Tiers(must have a minimum of 4 years NBA experience). Wanted to see what you guys think and how my rankings compare with yours for the 2016-2017 season. Here are how my Tiers work:

Tier 1(Goats – Can carry a team on his back during the season and postseason) – LeBron James(far & above everyone else at age 31)

Tier 2(Superstars – Guys who can take you to the playoffs and win a few games by themselves) – KD, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, Anthony Davis, CP3, Steph Curry(has been wildly inconsistent in postseason, but still wins playoff games by himself when healthy)

Tier 3(Stars – Guys who can’t win on their own in the postseason. They will put up numbers, but need another local star, star, or superstar to pair with) – Melo, Russell Westbrook, Dame Lillard, John Wall, Draymond Green, Kyrie Irving, Jimmy Butler, DWade(Was Tier 2), Chris Bosh(when healthy), Dirk,

Tier 4(Local Stars – Step below stars, but can put up the numbers and help Stars/Superstars/Goat make it to the playoffs and win a postseason series) – CJ McCollum, Bradley Beal, Isaiah Thomas, Al Horford, Paul Millsap, Kemba Walker, Gordon Hayward, Klay Thompson, Kevin Love, DeMarcus Cousins, Mike Conley, Marc Gasol, Blake Griffin, LaMarcus Aldrige, Reggie Jackson, Andre Drummond, DeMar Derozan, Kyle Lowry, Serge Ibaka, Whiteside, Brook Lopez, Pau Gasol(Was Tier 3),

A FEW NOTES: Really young guys like KAT, Andrew Wiggins, Giannis, Jabari Parker, etc. aren’t included in any of the 4 Tiers yet. Minimum qualification to be ranked is at least 4 years of experience in the NBA. Also, the jump between tier 3 and tier 2 is pretty large, but not insurmountable. I can definitely see you guys arguing the Westbrook should belong there, but he is a top 5 TALENT, not a top 5 overall player yet. He could prove me wrong this season by leading his OKC squad to a top 3-4 seed in the West, but that remains to be seen. And again, this is pre 2016-2017 NBA season. Plenty of the guys in tier 4 or tier 3 could move up…but no one is knocking LeBron off Goat/Tier 1 status.

Let me know what you guy’s think!

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

 So you are ranking d wade and Dirk ahead of klay Thompson, Blake Griffin, demarcus cousins and lamarcus Aldridge at this point in their careers? Can’t say I agree with that.

Anthony Davis clearly seems like he should be in tier 3 until he proves otherwise. He has only been to the playoffs once and hasn’t won a single playoff game yet.

 

[Memphisboy14Participant]

Nah I believe that Anthony Davis is at least Tier 2. He’s shown that he can carry a team to the playoffs in the Western Conference. The Pelicans dealt with a lot of injuries and a crappy roster last year. None of that is an indictment against him.

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

 I agree that you can’t blame the pelicans struggles last year on Davis. However, if the classification for tier 2 is "guys that can carry a team to the playoffs and win a few games by themselves" when has Davis shown he can do that? I think he’ll get there eventually but he’s not there yet.

[trombonematrix43Participant]

Which Russell Westbrook were you watching? Can’t win games on his own? Really?

[steviechillzParticipant]

So, Westbrook can win games on his own, but look at his record without KD…Tier 3 is extremely solid, but when he was given the keys to the team, he put up triple doubles, but not necessarily wins. If he can bring his team to the playoffs this year and win a playoff series without KD, then he gets bumped up to tier 2. You should probably read the comments before saying that I said that he can’t win a regular season game on his own…that’s not what I said, this is the Tier 3 description, Guys who can’t win on their own in the postseason. They will put up numbers, but need another local star, star, or superstar to pair with” and this is my note about Westbrook, “I can definitely see you guys arguing the Westbrook should belong there, but he is a top 5 TALENT, not a top 5 overall player yet. He could prove me wrong this season by leading his OKC squad to a top 3-4 seed in the West, but that remains to be seen. And again, this is pre 2016-2017 NBA season.”

[SubZeroParticipant]

It’s not fair to look at his record without KD. Most of the 2014-15 season, the roster was half full with guys that shouldn’t even be playing. I mean, Lance Thomas was starting for a while, and we still almost made the playoffs

[steviechillzParticipant]

I love constructive criticism, but make sure you read what I said instead of saying, “Can’t win games on his own?”

[BeastMode716Participant]

 and I like it b/c they have a collection of real basketball people (Scouts, GM’s, Coaches, ex Players) & they Vote on where they believe the Draft Prospect will ultimately Land in the Tier system

And it’s not just one guy’s opinion. It’s got to be a Majority to be placed in any Tier. So if 50 people vote 25+ must vote for any player to land in any Tier

I like it b/c it really makes it clear how people in that Field rank Draft prospects. For example, in the last 5 Drafts only 6 players have been ranked as "Tier 1" which is Super Star projection; Tier 2 is All Star level; Tier 3 is very good Starter w/ a possible year or two at All Star level but Not perenial. Tier 4 is a decent Starter; Tier 5 is a Rotation player. The 6 players that made espn’s Tier 1 in the Drafts between 2012 – 2016 were Unibrow Davis (2012); Zero in 2013; Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Joel Embiid (2014); Karl Anthony Towns (2015) & Ben Simmons (2016)

Tier 2 examples were Ingram; Porzingus; Okafor; D’Angelo Russell etc…. You get the idea.

These are just projections but it’s a nice clean way to explain the difference between each Level for the average fan.

 

 

 

[steviechillzParticipant]

Btw if you guys disagree w/ my tier rankings, please feel free to post your own so we can compare

[HitsterParticipant]

The ranking system that a respected poster on another forum many years back told me about and which I try to use and have adapted slightly is :-

Franchise Level Player
All Star
Borderline All Star
Top Running Mate
Complimentary Starters
Top Bench guys who can play starter minutes
Bench rotation guys
End of bench guys

[festar35Participant]

Franchise Level Player: I think there is still tiers in here.
Tier 1 – LeBron James
Tier 2 – Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook
Tier 3 – Paul George, James Harden, Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving

Now I know I have left some names off the list, but I have a good reason the names above have taken over games/play-off series when it matters, I will go with why I don’t have some names on the list.

Kawhi Leonard – I know he has a Finals MVP I get that, but I am yet to see that Superstar moment/game he does everything really well and he fits very nicely into the Spurs system, but I feel he still isn’t the kind of guy you can truly fit a system around him specifically.
Jimmy Butler & Draymond Green – See Kawhi, both very good players who fit very well in their situations but you take them and say put them in Indiana or Houston we don’t see those teams being as good.

KAT & Anthony Davis – Young and very talented I expect them to be guys mentioned in that 3rd tier by the All-Star break of this season.

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