SI's Top 100 players for 21-22 (ESPN also later on)

[Moranis]

Tatum 13, Brown 27, Smart 60

1-10

https://www.si.com/nba/2021/09/23/ranking-best-nba-players-top-100-2022-kevin-durant-giannis-antetokounmpo-lebron-james

11-30

https://www.si.com/nba/2021/09/22/ranking-best-nba-players-top-100-2022-damian-lillard-paul-george-jayson-tatum

31-50

https://www.si.com/nba/2021/09/21/ranking-best-nba-players-top-100-2022-russell-westbrook-ben-simmons

51-100

https://www.si.com/nba/2021/09/20/ranking-best-nba-players-top-100-2022

[gouki88]

Ja Morant ahead of JB and Middleton is genuinely ridiculous!

[celticsclay]

Just skimmed it but draymond green at 35 seemed a bit ridiculous to me. Simmons tumbled to 31 this year. Interesting discussion fodder but list seems pretty random.

[Atzar]

Ja Morant ahead of JB and Middleton is genuinely ridiculous!

Personal opinion, but I feel like Ja is one of the most overrated players in the NBA right now.  He’s in that Trae Young tier of sewage on defense, but while Trae makes up for it with top-of-the-league offense, Ja is just good.  That doesn’t cut it for me - not where he’s ranked.

Dude is young, so plenty of time for that to change.  But right now he’s more flash than substance. 

[Moranis]

Ja is the best player on a team that was over .500 and made the playoffs last year as a 21 year old in his 2nd year.  If he does the normal progression that players take he will be a 25+ scorer with around 8 assists and 4 rebounds.  As the best player on a playoff team.  Not ridiculous at all to think he is better than Brown and Middleton, two guys that have never had to be the man.

[droopdog7]

Ja is the best player on a team that was over .500 and made the playoffs last year as a 21 year old in his 2nd year.  If he does the normal progression that players take he will be a 25+ scorer with around 8 assists and 4 rebounds.  As the best player on a playoff team.  Not ridiculous at all to think he is better than Brown and Middleton, two guys that have never had to be the man.

Agree 100%, especially if you take this as rankings for the upcoming here.   

[#1P4P]

Donovan Mitchell has been the #1 option since entering the league, led them to a #1 seed in the West, has lead his team to the playoffs every season, and is a superstar playoff performer. He’s one of the Top 15 players in the NBA.

I like Paul George’s game, he’s an excellent player, smooth and efficient, but Tatum put up George’s playoffs stat line in the 2020 playoffs, improved it in 2021, and is poised to be better this upcoming season at 23. If it’s a ranking projecting performance for the 2021-22 season, Tatum should be ahead.

[Moranis]

ESPN has released its list.  Tatum 14, Brown 27, Smart 49

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/32260331/nbarank-2021-ranking-best-players-2021-22-5-1

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/32249592/nbarank-2021-ranking-best-players-2021-22-25-6

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/32244615/nbarank-2021-ranking-best-players-2021-22-50-26

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/32239384/nbarank-2021-ranking-best-players-2021-22-100-51

[gouki88]

Ja is the best player on a team that was over .500 and made the playoffs last year as a 21 year old in his 2nd year.  If he does the normal progression that players take he will be a 25+ scorer with around 8 assists and 4 rebounds.  As the best player on a playoff team.  Not ridiculous at all to think he is better than Brown and Middleton, two guys that have never had to be the man.

Where is this improvement coming from? He made a minor improvement in production and took a step back in efficiency in his 2nd year.

[Moranis]

Ja is the best player on a team that was over .500 and made the playoffs last year as a 21 year old in his 2nd year.  If he does the normal progression that players take he will be a 25+ scorer with around 8 assists and 4 rebounds.  As the best player on a playoff team.  Not ridiculous at all to think he is better than Brown and Middleton, two guys that have never had to be the man.

Where is this improvement coming from? He made a minor improvement in production and took a step back in efficiency in his 2nd year.

Same place it comes from from all 22 year old 3rd year players.

I mean have you looked at Tatum's numbers from his 1st to 2nd year?  He only made a minor improvement in production and took a step back in efficiency as well, yet his 3rd year took a massive leap (which btw is pretty typical). 

If you want to argue that Morant is atypical and more like someone like Simmons then Tatum, so be it, but I'm going to go with the norm and say that Morant will take a nice jump up just like pretty much every player does.

[Vermont Green]

Commenting on the ESPN rankings, Julius Randle at 42 seems low especially when you consider they had Miles Turner at 44.

On the Celtics, ESPN had Tatum at 14, just behind Chris Paul, Paul George, Brad Beal.  Brown at 27, about where Ingram and Simmons are.  And Marcus Smart down 12 spots to 49.  I could see all 3 playing to a higher level than these predictions but probably all in about the right range.  3 in the top 50 is pretty good.  I didn't see Schroder in the top 100 but thought he was as good as some of them on the list.