NBA’s five best players in five years

[konkmv]

Giannis Davis Tatum brown Mitchell....

[tenn_smoothie]

Cannot think of a top 5. I've got a top 3 instead: Simmons, Davis, Giannis (in that order)


Honorable mentions:

Embiid (highly doubt he 'll stay healthy, otherwise he 'd be a no-brainer for the top 5)
Porzingis (again, it seems doubtful that he can stay healthy)
KAT
Jokic
Mitchell
Tatum
KD

Possibly even someone from this year's draft? Who knows?

You really think Simmons will be the best player in the NBA? Did you watch the Playoffs? Guy can't shoot..like at all

Call me crazy, but imo he is the closest thing we 've seen to Magic.

Btw, imo Magic is the GOAT.

His combination of size and ball handling and passing ability is very reminiscent of Magic, I'll give you that. But let's not forget how versatile Magic was - the lakers could slot him in as center and he Would dominate whoever he was playing against. I could never see Simmons doing that.

I could definitely see Simmons playing small-ball center in today's NBA.

No way Simmons could produce a Magic, 1980 Game 6 Finals performance, maybe ever, let alone this past season as a "rookie." Nor could he produce any Bird-like 1981 playoff games when Larry just became a wild animal on the boards against Moses. I mention those two examples because they took place in Magic & Larry's first two seasons in the league. Simmons isn't even close to that - actually no one is other than maybe Russell and Chamberlain.

[Jvalin]

Cannot think of a top 5. I've got a top 3 instead: Simmons, Davis, Giannis (in that order)


Honorable mentions:

Embiid (highly doubt he 'll stay healthy, otherwise he 'd be a no-brainer for the top 5)
Porzingis (again, it seems doubtful that he can stay healthy)
KAT
Jokic
Mitchell
Tatum
KD

Possibly even someone from this year's draft? Who knows?

You really think Simmons will be the best player in the NBA? Did you watch the Playoffs? Guy can't shoot..like at all

Call me crazy, but imo he is the closest thing we 've seen to Magic.

Btw, imo Magic is the GOAT.

His combination of size and ball handling and passing ability is very reminiscent of Magic, I'll give you that. But let's not forget how versatile Magic was - the lakers could slot him in as center and he Would dominate whoever he was playing against. I could never see Simmons doing that.

I could definitely see Simmons playing small-ball center in today's NBA.

No way Simmons could produce a Magic, 1980 Game 6 Finals performance, maybe ever, let alone this past season as a "rookie." Nor could he produce any Bird-like 1981 playoff games when Larry just became a wild animal on the boards against Moses. I mention those two examples because they took place in Magic & Larry's first two seasons in the league. Simmons isn't even close to that - actually no one is other than maybe Russell and Chamberlain.

Time will tell mate.

Imagine the following scenario for a second:

- The Sixers progress to the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.
- Embiid goes down with injury.
- Brett Brown asks Simmons to play at center cause Amir and Muscala both suck.

Does this scenario remind you of a certain story from the 1980 playoffs?

[Androslav]

Cannot think of a top 5. I've got a top 3 instead: Simmons, Davis, Giannis (in that order)


Honorable mentions:

Embiid (highly doubt he 'll stay healthy, otherwise he 'd be a no-brainer for the top 5)
Porzingis (again, it seems doubtful that he can stay healthy)
KAT
Jokic
Mitchell
Tatum
KD

Possibly even someone from this year's draft? Who knows?

You really think Simmons will be the best player in the NBA? Did you watch the Playoffs? Guy can't shoot..like at all

Call me crazy, but imo he is the closest thing we 've seen to Magic.

Btw, imo Magic is the GOAT.

His combination of size and ball handling and passing ability is very reminiscent of Magic, I'll give you that. But let's not forget how versatile Magic was - the lakers could slot him in as center and he Would dominate whoever he was playing against. I could never see Simmons doing that.

I could definitely see Simmons playing small-ball center in today's NBA.

No way Simmons could produce a Magic, 1980 Game 6 Finals performance, maybe ever, let alone this past season as a "rookie." Nor could he produce any Bird-like 1981 playoff games when Larry just became a wild animal on the boards against Moses. I mention those two examples because they took place in Magic & Larry's first two seasons in the league. Simmons isn't even close to that - actually no one is other than maybe Russell and Chamberlain.

Time will tell mate.

Imagine the following scenario for a second:

- The Sixers progress to the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.
- Embiid goes down with injury.
- Brett Brown asks Simmons to play at center cause Amir and Muscala both suck.

Does this scenario remind you of a certain story from the 1980 playoffs?

TP. I like your romantic, true BB fan perspective.
But, it wouldn't remind me, as Simmons is poor at FT's, can't shoot from 7 feet out and doesn't have a right nor left hook shot or much post game. Magic was a killer in the post. Additionally we would torture him on offense, and make him work on defense. If we slow things down, as I believe we would, he'd score something like 14-16 points and 5 TO's.
No Magic from him, just magic for us Celtic fans - We are in the finals again!

[AshyLarry]

Giannis
Davis
Tatum
Embiid
Zion

[gouki88]

AD
Giannis
Kyrie
Embiid
Doncic

I was having a hard time deciding the last spot, with Jokic, Tatum, Mitchell, Beal and Kristaps all being honourable mentions

[Moranis]

Barring major injury Giannis and Davis seem pretty likely after that I think there are any number of players that could be in that discussion with Leonard being the most likely to me.  Simmons, Embiid, Porzingis, Jokic, and Towns are probably the next group, though maybe Durant, Curry, and Harden are still sticking around at that level.  Then you have the young guys like Tatum, Ayton, etc. whose development could put them at that level.

[johnnygreen]

Cannot think of a top 5. I've got a top 3 instead: Simmons, Davis, Giannis (in that order)


Honorable mentions:

Embiid (highly doubt he 'll stay healthy, otherwise he 'd be a no-brainer for the top 5)
Porzingis (again, it seems doubtful that he can stay healthy)
KAT
Jokic
Mitchell
Tatum
KD

Possibly even someone from this year's draft? Who knows?

You really think Simmons will be the best player in the NBA? Did you watch the Playoffs? Guy can't shoot..like at all

Call me crazy, but imo he is the closest thing we 've seen to Magic.

Btw, imo Magic is the GOAT.

His combination of size and ball handling and passing ability is very reminiscent of Magic, I'll give you that. But let's not forget how versatile Magic was - the lakers could slot him in as center and he Would dominate whoever he was playing against. I could never see Simmons doing that.

I could definitely see Simmons playing small-ball center in today's NBA.

No way Simmons could produce a Magic, 1980 Game 6 Finals performance, maybe ever, let alone this past season as a "rookie." Nor could he produce any Bird-like 1981 playoff games when Larry just became a wild animal on the boards against Moses. I mention those two examples because they took place in Magic & Larry's first two seasons in the league. Simmons isn't even close to that - actually no one is other than maybe Russell and Chamberlain.

Time will tell mate.

Imagine the following scenario for a second:

- The Sixers progress to the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.
- Embiid goes down with injury.
- Brett Brown asks Simmons to play at center cause Amir and Muscala both suck.

Does this scenario remind you of a certain story from the 1980 playoffs?

Imagine this scenario:

Bird or Magic getting injured in the preseason of their rookie seasons, and then sitting out the remainder of the year to preserve their potential rookie of the year chances for the following season. I know I dream of winning the lottery and realize the chances are slim to none of it ever happening. However, the odds of winning the lottery seem more realistic than Bird or Magic ever pulling that embarrassing Ben Simmons scenario.