SI.com's Top 100 NBA players of 2017

[max215]

Al Horford coming in at an impressive #18, ahead of others bigs like Jordan, Marc Gasol, KAT, Love, Drummond, and Favors.

What sticks out to me is that they had him at #21 last year, so this is not the glorification of Horford as our "superstar" in the wake of his departure from Atlanta; SI has always thought this highly of him. I also love that they have the confidence to call him the league's second best center, given Towns' rapidly developing reputation and Jordan and Drummond's existing reputations.

[max215]

Al Horford coming in at an impressive #18, ahead of others bigs like Jordan, Marc Gasol, KAT, Love, Drummond, and Favors.

He's about 15 spots too high and Thomas is about 10 too low

Yeah seriously. How the hell are Stephen Adams and Andre Iguodala better than Isaiah Thomas?

Those guys are good, but IT is a star player and does a lot more for the Celtics than those guys do for their teams.

I think Horford's ranking was a little high but I think the reason why he's ranked so highly is because bigs like him are very rare in today's league.

I get the argument for Iggy, but the Adams placement is kind of crazy. He was great in the playoffs, don't get me wrong, but I feel that people have inflated him a bit since.

[MJohnnyboy]

So this means the 10 players left are Lebron, Curry, Durant, Westbrook, Paul, Leonard, George, Davis, Harden, and Griffin. My prediction is

10. Blake Griffin
9. James Harden
8. Paul George
7. Anthony Davis
6. Chris Paul
5. Kawhi Leonard
4. Russell Westbrook
3. Kevin Durant
2. Stephen Curry
1. Lebron James

Anyone who predicts the last 10 correctly gets a TP.

[KGs Knee]

Al Horford coming in at an impressive #18, ahead of others bigs like Jordan, Marc Gasol, KAT, Love, Drummond, and Favors.

What sticks out to me is that they had him at #21 last year, so this is not the glorification of Horford as our "superstar" in the wake of his departure from Atlanta; SI has always thought this highly of him. I also love that they have the confidence to call him the league's second best center, given Towns' rapidly developing reputation and Jordan and Drummond's existing reputations.

It's justified, Horford is that good of an all-around player.

I'm baffled that people continually underrate him.

[MJohnnyboy]

Al Horford coming in at an impressive #18, ahead of others bigs like Jordan, Marc Gasol, KAT, Love, Drummond, and Favors.

He's about 15 spots too high and Thomas is about 10 too low

Yeah seriously. How the hell are Stephen Adams and Andre Iguodala better than Isaiah Thomas?

Those guys are good, but IT is a star player and does a lot more for the Celtics than those guys do for their teams.

I think Horford's ranking was a little high but I think the reason why he's ranked so highly is because bigs like him are very rare in today's league.

I get the argument for Iggy, but the Adams placement is kind of crazy. He was great in the playoffs, don't get me wrong, but I feel that people have inflated him a bit since.

I don't. Iggy is a do it all kind of wing but he's been declining since he signed with the Warriors and should get even less minutes now that Durant's on the team. He hasn't been considered an all-star caliber player since his days in Philly.

He's still a good player, but definitely not better than Isaiah Thomas.

[max215]

Al Horford coming in at an impressive #18, ahead of others bigs like Jordan, Marc Gasol, KAT, Love, Drummond, and Favors.

What sticks out to me is that they had him at #21 last year, so this is not the glorification of Horford as our "superstar" in the wake of his departure from Atlanta; SI has always thought this highly of him. I also love that they have the confidence to call him the league's second best center, given Towns' rapidly developing reputation and Jordan and Drummond's existing reputations.

It's justified, Horford is that good of an all-around player.

I'm baffled that people continually underrate him.

I think he's borderline top 20 and in the next tier of centers after Cousins (Horford, Towns, Jordan).

[max215]

Al Horford coming in at an impressive #18, ahead of others bigs like Jordan, Marc Gasol, KAT, Love, Drummond, and Favors.

He's about 15 spots too high and Thomas is about 10 too low

Yeah seriously. How the hell are Stephen Adams and Andre Iguodala better than Isaiah Thomas?

Those guys are good, but IT is a star player and does a lot more for the Celtics than those guys do for their teams.

I think Horford's ranking was a little high but I think the reason why he's ranked so highly is because bigs like him are very rare in today's league.

I get the argument for Iggy, but the Adams placement is kind of crazy. He was great in the playoffs, don't get me wrong, but I feel that people have inflated him a bit since.

I don't. Iggy is a do it all kind of wing but he's been declining since he signed with the Warriors and should get even less minutes now that Durant's on the team. He hasn't been considered an all-star caliber player since his days in Philly.

He's still a good player, but definitely not better than Isaiah Thomas.

But the thing is that the writers tried to divorce players from their situations, which is why IT came in so low and Iggy so high. I think many people believe that Iggy could still be a star player elsewhere.

http://www.si.com/nba/2016/09/12/top-100-nba-players-process-limitations-exercise

[max215]

So this means the 10 players left are Lebron, Curry, Durant, Westbrook, Paul, Leonard, George, Davis, Harden, and Griffin. My prediction is

10. Blake Griffin
9. James Harden
8. Paul George
7. Anthony Davis
6. Chris Paul
5. Kawhi Leonard
4. Russell Westbrook
3. Kevin Durant
2. Stephen Curry
1. Lebron James

Anyone who predicts the last 10 correctly gets a TP.

1. LeBron James
2. Steph Curry
3. Kevin Durant
4. Kawhi Leonard
5. Russell Westbrook
6. Chris Paul
7. Anthony Davis
8. James Harden
9. Paul George
10. Blake Griffin

I have very little confidence in this list, to be frank. I'm not even positive Curry comes in ahead of Durant.

[KGs Knee]

Al Horford coming in at an impressive #18, ahead of others bigs like Jordan, Marc Gasol, KAT, Love, Drummond, and Favors.

What sticks out to me is that they had him at #21 last year, so this is not the glorification of Horford as our "superstar" in the wake of his departure from Atlanta; SI has always thought this highly of him. I also love that they have the confidence to call him the league's second best center, given Towns' rapidly developing reputation and Jordan and Drummond's existing reputations.

It's justified, Horford is that good of an all-around player.

I'm baffled that people continually underrate him.

I think he's borderline top 20 and in the next tier of centers after Cousins (Horford, Towns, Jordan).

I suspect your opinion will change watching him with the C's this year. So much of his game isn't appreciated as much as it should be because it's hard to always quantify.

I really thought SI hit the nail squarely on the head with their assessment of his game.

The essence of his game is facilitation. Horford can post, guard, space, rotate, cut, pass, switch, screen, rebound, and pop to whatever degree makes sense and succeed in all areas. He can spend his time on the low block, the elbow, the top of the key, or the baseline depending on what openings are available, and he can either play up when defending a pick-and-roll or drop back as the system demands. Horford will shoot better than 50% from the field and rarely turn the ball over, regardless, closing the loop one of the most comprehensive skill sets in the NBA. If you still aren’t under the impression that Horford is a genuine star, you have a lot of homework to do.

[MJohnnyboy]

Al Horford coming in at an impressive #18, ahead of others bigs like Jordan, Marc Gasol, KAT, Love, Drummond, and Favors.

He's about 15 spots too high and Thomas is about 10 too low

Yeah seriously. How the hell are Stephen Adams and Andre Iguodala better than Isaiah Thomas?

Those guys are good, but IT is a star player and does a lot more for the Celtics than those guys do for their teams.

I think Horford's ranking was a little high but I think the reason why he's ranked so highly is because bigs like him are very rare in today's league.

I get the argument for Iggy, but the Adams placement is kind of crazy. He was great in the playoffs, don't get me wrong, but I feel that people have inflated him a bit since.

I don't. Iggy is a do it all kind of wing but he's been declining since he signed with the Warriors and should get even less minutes now that Durant's on the team. He hasn't been considered an all-star caliber player since his days in Philly.

He's still a good player, but definitely not better than Isaiah Thomas.

But the thing is that the writers tried to divorce players from their situations, which is why IT came in so low and Iggy so high. I think many people believe that Iggy could still be a star player elsewhere.

http://www.si.com/nba/2016/09/12/top-100-nba-players-process-limitations-exercise

I get that, but I still think IT is currently better than Iggy when all is said and done. That's just what I think though.

[MJohnnyboy]

One last thing. The Celtics starting 5 is in the top 100 players in the league. When was the last time you'd say our whole starting lineup should have been in the top 100? 2010? In 2010 the Celtics probably would have had 6 of the top 100 with Rasheed aboard.

[PhoSita]

I think a lot of folks outside of Boston look at Isaiah and think a couple of things:

(a) His offensive numbers are great, but aren't they in large part a result of opportunity?  The Celts have needed a high usage scorer handling the ball.  A lot of guys would put up big scoring numbers if given a similar opportunity, and IT would not have the chance to put up similar numbers on a different team;

AND

(b) He may be a very nice offensive player, but his size means he is a gameplanning liability on defense, especially in the crucible of the playoffs.


I'm not sure that either of those things is really true. 

How replaceable is IT, really?  Your run of the mill sparkplug back-up point guard -- e.g. Jeremy Lin or Patty Mills -- wouldn't put up numbers that good if given the chance to start and have a 25+% usage rate, would he?

How effectively have particular opponents taken advantage of IT's defense?  Looking at the Celts' playoff losses, it doesn't seem to me that a major factor in those losses was IT's defense.

[max215]

Al Horford coming in at an impressive #18, ahead of others bigs like Jordan, Marc Gasol, KAT, Love, Drummond, and Favors.

He's about 15 spots too high and Thomas is about 10 too low

Yeah seriously. How the hell are Stephen Adams and Andre Iguodala better than Isaiah Thomas?

Those guys are good, but IT is a star player and does a lot more for the Celtics than those guys do for their teams.

I think Horford's ranking was a little high but I think the reason why he's ranked so highly is because bigs like him are very rare in today's league.

I get the argument for Iggy, but the Adams placement is kind of crazy. He was great in the playoffs, don't get me wrong, but I feel that people have inflated him a bit since.

I don't. Iggy is a do it all kind of wing but he's been declining since he signed with the Warriors and should get even less minutes now that Durant's on the team. He hasn't been considered an all-star caliber player since his days in Philly.

He's still a good player, but definitely not better than Isaiah Thomas.

But the thing is that the writers tried to divorce players from their situations, which is why IT came in so low and Iggy so high. I think many people believe that Iggy could still be a star player elsewhere.

http://www.si.com/nba/2016/09/12/top-100-nba-players-process-limitations-exercise

I get that, but I still think IT is currently better than Iggy when all is said and done. That's just what I think though.

I think I'm probably in your camp on this too, but I do think the other side has a legitimate argument.

[max215]

Al Horford coming in at an impressive #18, ahead of others bigs like Jordan, Marc Gasol, KAT, Love, Drummond, and Favors.

What sticks out to me is that they had him at #21 last year, so this is not the glorification of Horford as our "superstar" in the wake of his departure from Atlanta; SI has always thought this highly of him. I also love that they have the confidence to call him the league's second best center, given Towns' rapidly developing reputation and Jordan and Drummond's existing reputations.

It's justified, Horford is that good of an all-around player.

I'm baffled that people continually underrate him.

I think he's borderline top 20 and in the next tier of centers after Cousins (Horford, Towns, Jordan).

I suspect your opinion will change watching him with the C's this year. So much of his game isn't appreciated as much as it should be because it's hard to always quantify.

I really thought SI hit the nail squarely on the head with their assessment of his game.

The essence of his game is facilitation. Horford can post, guard, space, rotate, cut, pass, switch, screen, rebound, and pop to whatever degree makes sense and succeed in all areas. He can spend his time on the low block, the elbow, the top of the key, or the baseline depending on what openings are available, and he can either play up when defending a pick-and-roll or drop back as the system demands. Horford will shoot better than 50% from the field and rarely turn the ball over, regardless, closing the loop one of the most comprehensive skill sets in the NBA. If you still aren’t under the impression that Horford is a genuine star, you have a lot of homework to do.

I don't know, I feel like top 20 is pretty high praise. That's firmly in the "star" category and nearing "superstar." I'm pretty sure I'm about as high on him as most of his biggest fans, which is to say I think he's a bonafide star and the league's second or third best center.

[ayer]

So this means the 10 players left are Lebron, Curry, Durant, Westbrook, Paul, Leonard, George, Davis, Harden, and Griffin. My prediction is

10. Blake Griffin
9. James Harden
8. Paul George
7. Anthony Davis
6. Chris Paul
5. Kawhi Leonard
4. Russell Westbrook
3. Kevin Durant
2. Stephen Curry
1. Lebron James

Anyone who predicts the last 10 correctly gets a TP.

1. LeBron James
2. Steph Curry
3. Kevin Durant
4. Kawhi Leonard
5. Russell Westbrook
6. Chris Paul
7. Anthony Davis
8. James Harden
9. Paul George
10. Blake Griffin

I have very little confidence in this list, to be frank. I'm not even positive Curry comes in ahead of Durant.

My prediction would be
1. LBJ
2.Curry
3.Westbrook
4.KD
5.Kawhi
6. CP3
7.Harden
8.AD
9.Griffin
10 .PG