SI's Top 100 NBA Players of 2019

[bdm860]

If anything I have a problem with Lonzo Ball being #100, thats clearly a fan service pick. And Covington being #48? Maybe its his playoff performance that has clouded my logical reasoning but no thank you.

On this, I didn't watch a lot of the lakers last year but the consensus seems to be that Kuzma was their best rookie.  I don't see him on this list yet.  Is he going to be top 30 in this ranking?  Is that deserved?

Kuzma was listed in the Snubs section.  And the difference between Snub and 100 is minimal, per SI:

In some sense, stopping at 100 is an arbitrary end point. There isn't a dramatic difference between our final pick and those players who narrowly missed the cut, and one could make a compelling case for many of those omitted to claim one of the last spots.

But on Kuzma/Ball, I'd expect Ball to be the better player in 2019.  He's a great passer who will be feeding LeBron.  Kuzma on the other hand just got moved to the bench behind LeBron.  Not that LeBron's going to take all of Kuzma's minutes, but I'd be surprised if Kuzma improves on any of his main counting stats next year (ppg/rpg/apg/spg/bpg).  Although who knows how that Laker team might get shuffled during the season.

[PhoSita]

Rozier over Smart calls the list into question, right off the bat.

If I'm building a team I'd pick Smart before Rozier as a key role player off the bench or in a 4th / 5th starter role.

[tazzmaniac]

Seems like a reasonable projection for 2019 so far. 

[smokeablount]

Rozier over Smart calls the list into question, right off the bat.

If I'm building a team I'd pick Smart before Rozier as a key role player off the bench or in a 4th / 5th starter role.

4th or 5th starter means 90th-150th top player, implying near the middle, which likely leaves him off.

[tazzmaniac]

Rozier over Smart calls the list into question, right off the bat.

If I'm building a team I'd pick Smart before Rozier as a key role player off the bench or in a 4th / 5th starter role.

They're clearly giving Rozier a bounce from the playoffs.  Sounds like they may be expecting him to be traded too.  On an offensively loaded team, Smart over Rozier makes sense.  On an offensively challenged team, it doesn't.   

[PhoSita]

Rozier over Smart calls the list into question, right off the bat.

If I'm building a team I'd pick Smart before Rozier as a key role player off the bench or in a 4th / 5th starter role.

4th or 5th starter means 90th-150th top player, implying near the middle, which likely leaves him off.

Sure, but that means Rozier ought to be off as well.

I get that they're seeing him as a potential starter elsewhere, but I think if Terry is one of your top three guys your team ain't going anywhere.

[PhoSita]

One way to look at this list is that if you did a 30 team fantasy draft, the top 90 players would be the top 3 players selected for each team.

It would make more sense to make the list the top 90, but of course that's not as cool a number as 100.

Spots 91-100 are basically the first part of the fourth round of a hypothetical fantasy draft.  Assuming, of course, that every team was drafting based on trying to win games this season.


Rob Covington in the top 50 means that he'd be taken in the 2nd round as the #2 player on a team trying to win right now.  That, uh, doesn't quite sound right to me.

[gouki88]

Rondo snubbed yet again! I’d pick him over Olynyk 7 days a week

Also agree with what many others have said - Smart was snubbed

[tazzmaniac]

One way to look at this list is that if you did a 30 team fantasy draft, the top 90 players would be the top 3 players selected for each team.

It would make more sense to make the list the top 90, but of course that's not as cool a number as 100.

Spots 91-100 are basically the first part of the fourth round of a hypothetical fantasy draft.  Assuming, of course, that every team was drafting based on trying to win games this season.


Rob Covington in the top 50 means that he'd be taken in the 2nd round as the #2 player on a team trying to win right now.  That, uh, doesn't quite sound right to me.

The list doesn't include rookies and the list takes into account injuries so Cousins and Porzingis are lower than they normally would be.  Also the list is just for 2019 so you have to put aside future year projections.   It is also not really a draft.  It is a projection of all around productivity.  So Covington's defense pushes him up the list.  Given all that I don't see many players that I'd move ahead of Covington.     

[celticsclay]

One way to look at this list is that if you did a 30 team fantasy draft, the top 90 players would be the top 3 players selected for each team.

It would make more sense to make the list the top 90, but of course that's not as cool a number as 100.

Spots 91-100 are basically the first part of the fourth round of a hypothetical fantasy draft.  Assuming, of course, that every team was drafting based on trying to win games this season.


Rob Covington in the top 50 means that he'd be taken in the 2nd round as the #2 player on a team trying to win right now.  That, uh, doesn't quite sound right to me.

Covington has somehow become the most overrated player in the league

[smokeablount]

Rozier over Smart calls the list into question, right off the bat.

If I'm building a team I'd pick Smart before Rozier as a key role player off the bench or in a 4th / 5th starter role.

4th or 5th starter means 90th-150th top player, implying near the middle, which likely leaves him off.

Sure, but that means Rozier ought to be off as well.

I get that they're seeing him as a potential starter elsewhere, but I think if Terry is one of your top three guys your team ain't going anywhere.

I don’t disagree with that. Just that Smart probably shouldn’t be on it. Plus it’s obvious after last playoffs why ESPN would have Terry and not Smart featured.

[PhoSita]

The list doesn't include rookies and the list takes into account injuries so Cousins and Porzingis are lower than they normally would be.  Also the list is just for 2019 so you have to put aside future year projections.   It is also not really a draft.  It is a projection of all around productivity.

A list of the "top 100 players of 2019," to me, means a list of the players that are going to be the most valuable for the upcoming season.  Whether that means regular season only or playoffs also is an open question, I guess.

As I said in my post, the "draft" I'm hypothesizing here would be for teams that are all trying to win right now.  Obviously in real life many young players would get taken ahead of more established role players that are nonetheless more valuable in the present.


Even with those caveats, I don't see a team wanting Robert Covington in the top 50.  RoCo is the sort of player you'd really want if you already have a few stars, but who won't do much for you if you don't have much talent ahead of him.

[PhoSita]

Rozier over Smart calls the list into question, right off the bat.

If I'm building a team I'd pick Smart before Rozier as a key role player off the bench or in a 4th / 5th starter role.

4th or 5th starter means 90th-150th top player, implying near the middle, which likely leaves him off.

Sure, but that means Rozier ought to be off as well.

I get that they're seeing him as a potential starter elsewhere, but I think if Terry is one of your top three guys your team ain't going anywhere.

I don’t disagree with that. Just that Smart probably shouldn’t be on it. Plus it’s obvious after last playoffs why ESPN would have Terry and not Smart featured.

While obvious, I would not agree that it's correct. 

I think if you're projecting for the upcoming season you should taken into account the last couple years of play, not a single playoff run.  Terry had a nice playoffs but he's shown that over a large sample he's a guy who will barely average 40% from the field and will often struggle to finish.

[tazzmaniac]

The list doesn't include rookies and the list takes into account injuries so Cousins and Porzingis are lower than they normally would be.  Also the list is just for 2019 so you have to put aside future year projections.   It is also not really a draft.  It is a projection of all around productivity.

A list of the "top 100 players of 2019," to me, means a list of the players that are going to be the most valuable for the upcoming season.  Whether that means regular season only or playoffs also is an open question, I guess.

As I said in my post, the "draft" I'm hypothesizing here would be for teams that are all trying to win right now.  Obviously in real life many young players would get taken ahead of more established role players that are nonetheless more valuable in the present.


Even with those caveats, I don't see a team wanting Robert Covington in the top 50.  RoCo is the sort of player you'd really want if you already have a few stars, but who won't do much for you if you don't have much talent ahead of him.

I think you are overrating the number of stars in the league.  Look at who is behind Covington.  Gordon, Booker, Favors, Porzingiz, Bledsoe, Saric, Murray, Ingles, Rubio, Teague, ...  That is not a star studded list.  If Porzingis were healthy he'd obviously be ahead of Covington.  Booker gets hyped like a star but he's really overrated at this point.  Of those I've listed and given the caveats, Murray is probably the only one that I'd move ahead of Covington.   

I'd say regular season and ability to help a team make the playoffs would weight significantly more than projecting a player's playoff contributions. 

[SHAQATTACK]

Smart got robbed. He should definitely have made the top 100 if Rozier and Olynyk made it

KO ......?  over Smart ......i stop right there giving credence to this list.