ESPN top 500 NBA players rankings completed

[Mr. Basketball]

Full list can be seen here: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/71...yer-rankings-1

Top 25:

25. Al Horford
24. Chris Bosh
23. LaMarcus Aldridge
22. Kevin Garnett
21. Paul Pierce
20. Zach Randolph
19. Tim Duncan
18. Manu Ginobili
17. Rajon Rondo
16. Kevin Love
15. Russel Westbrook
14. Steve Nash
13. Amare Stodemire
12. Camelo Anthony
11. Pau Gasol
10. Blake Griffin
9. Deron Williams
8. Derrick Rose
7. Kobe Bryant
6. Kevin Durant
5. Dirk Nowitzki
4. Chris Paul
3. Dwayne Wade
2. Dwight Howard
1. LeBron James

Top 100 by Nationality

80 -- USA
3 -- France
2 -- Spain
2 -- Argentina
2 -- Brazil
2 -- Italy
1 -- Germany
1 -- Russia
1 -- Canada
1 -- Dominican Republic
1 -- Puerto Rico
1 -- Australia
1 -- Poland
1 -- Great Britain
1 -- Congo

[killmebusy]

Full list can be seen here: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/71...yer-rankings-1

Top 25:

25. Al Horford
24. Chris Bosh
23. LaMarcus Aldridge
22. Kevin Garnett
21. Paul Pierce
20. Zach Randolph
19. Tim Duncan
18. Manu Ginobili
17. Rajon Rondo
16. Kevin Love
15. Russel Westbrook
14. Steve Nash
13. Amare Stodemire
12. Camelo Anthony
11. Pau Gasol
10. Blake Griffin
9. Deron Williams
8. Derrick Rose
7. Kobe Bryant
6. Kevin Durant
5. Dirk Nowitzki
4. Chris Paul
3. Dwayne Wade
2. Dwight Howard
1. LeBron James

there are a lot of things wrong with the rankings...especially in the top 10. blake griffin in the top 10 over a bunch of other more established superstars (KG, Nash, Manu, TD) who can still contribute and can still tow their teams to more wins than blake has over his entire (one year) career. then kobe, kd and dirk are slotted below chris paul...wow, just wow, what has paul done compared to a 6 time champ, 2 time scoring champ, reigning champ...heck those 3 can be slotted 1,2,3 and it would still feel right...coz it's hard to accept that the 4 best players in the nba DO NOT own a ring. i don't know what the voters see in them but they are ranking the players NOW, on what they have done. if they are trying to foresee what they will do in the future and rank them like that then it wouldn't have made any sense.

top 10 should be:
1 - dirk
2 - kobe
3 - durant
4 - lebron
5 - wade
6 - dwight
7 - rose
8 - cp3
9 - nash
10 - garnett

[acklium]

there are a lot of things wrong with the rankings...especially in the top 10. blake griffin in the top 10 over a bunch of other more established superstars (KG, Nash, Manu, TD) who can still contribute and can still tow their teams to more wins than blake has over his entire (one year) career. then kobe, kd and dirk are slotted below chris paul...wow, just wow, what has paul done compared to a 6 time champ, 2 time scoring champ, reigning champ...heck those 3 can be slotted 1,2,3 and it would still feel right...coz it's hard to accept that the 4 best players in the nba DO NOT own a ring. i don't know what the voters see in them but they are ranking the players NOW, on what they have done. if they are trying to foresee what they will do in the future and rank them like that then it wouldn't have made any sense.

top 10 should be:
1 - dirk
2 - kobe
3 - durant
4 - lebron
5 - wade
6 - dwight
7 - rose
8 - cp3
9 - nash
10 - garnett

dWADE has 1

[rikhardur]

The list looks pretty ridiculous. Putting Dwight Howard at 2 over Bryant, Durant or Dirk is simply laughable. Also LeBron at 1 is simply denying what happened last season and lobbying for him. If not 1, Dirk should be at least 2, but I suppose being European and non-black doesn't help. Sadly that's how it works within American basketball.
Parker doesn't show in the first 25, are you kidding me? I won't even go into the rest of the list.

[Raze Lupin]

Top 5

I'd change the Top 5 to:
1.Wade
2.LeBron(his numbers are ridiculous this season 27pts 7Ast 7.5rebounds he had a bad finals)
3.Dirk
4.D. Howard (his FT puts him below Dirk)
5.Chris Paul

I know there is a lot of LeBron hate BUT this is about the best current player. Not the best champion or who has the most rings. Lebron avg 27.7pts 7apg 7.5reb for his career. above was his last season stats! People love Dirk he beat Wade, Kobe, LeBron, Bosh BUT that doesn't mean he's a better player than Bron. Bron avg 7 assists and 27 points for last season and his career. Bron had a bad finals but every game of the regular season and for most of the playoffs the most productive player on the floor.

[Buzissa]

I absolutely agree with the first three spots. They are the most difficult players to stop in the league nowadays. Then #4 Dirk, #5 Rose and #6 Kobe.

[JGX]

Well done for getting #1 correct. Lots of questionable choices after that, but this is not exactly scientific and you probably wouldn't do any better making your own rankings.

Favorite twitter comment:

@BeckleyMason: Former #1 overall pick Andrea Bargnani gets a courtesy nod into the top 100 of #NBARank. He's like Dirk if Dirk wasn't any good.

[Ciscorlie Horford]

I suppose being European and non-black doesn't help. Sadly that's how it works within American basketball.

and not playing any defense, rebound like a 7 footer, being able to block any shots(7 feet !!!!!! use them) or having no post game, use your size to box out opponents and below average passing skills.

[rikhardur]

and not playing any defense, rebound like a 7 footer or having no post game

I knew you'd single out my post

[Ciscorlie Horford]

I knew you'd single out my post

I have never singled one of your post out. ever. So I don't know what you mean by that

[Raze Lupin]

Well done for getting #1 correct. Lots of questionable choices after that, but this is not exactly scientific and you probably wouldn't do any better making your own rankings.

Favorite twitter comment:

hahahaha hilarious comment! I like Bargnani but dude plays NO defense!

[Raze Lupin]

Really??

The list looks pretty ridiculous. Putting Dwight Howard at 2 over Bryant, Durant or Dirk is simply laughable. Also LeBron at 1 is simply denying what happened last season and lobbying for him. If not 1, Dirk should be at least 2, but I suppose being European and non-black doesn't help. Sadly that's how it works within American basketball.
Parker doesn't show in the first 25, are you kidding me? I won't even go into the rest of the list.

This survey is not scientific its based on opinion. Journalist were asked to rate a player on a scale of 1 to 10. LeBron got more 9s then Dirk. I think Dirk should be 3rd. Maybe he should be second BUT to say he got jipped because he's not American is wrong. There are many players who are black Americans that who were IMO underrated. Dirk still is in the top 5 in the NBA! Dirk had a better finals series than LeBron but that doesn't make him a better player. Here's a stat comparison:

I believe this this survey was mostly based on last season not career but here goes:
Career stats per game
Dirk 23pts 8.4rebs 2.7ast 1blk .9stl
Lebron 27.7pts 7.1rebs 7ast .8blk 2stl

2010-1011 reg season
Dirk 23pts 7reb 2.6ast .6blk .5stl
LeBron 26.7pts 7.5reb 7ast .6blk 1.6stl

Career playoffs season
Dirk 25.9pts 10.4reb 2.6ast 1blk 1.1stl
LeBron 28.0pts 8.4reb 7.0ast 1blk 1.7stl

2010-2011 playoffs
Dirk 27.7pts 8.2reb 2.5ast .6blk .6stl
LeBron 23.0pts 8.4reb 5.9ast 1.2blk 1.7stl

Lebron beats Dirk in every stat comparison except last years playoffs and they are virtually tied. Lebron gives more assists than Dirk. Rebounds just as good and plays better defense. Dirk is close to avg a double double for his career. LeBron is close to a triple double. Dirk is amazing and had a better finals than Lebron but hes not a better player. I'd ask anyone these questions.

Which player is the better defender?

Which player is the better ball distributor(assists)?

Which player is the better rebounder?

[rikhardur]

All right Raze Lupin, I get your point. It's not a scientifical thing of course, those are opinions and another panel of experts would make up a different list. But I just have to disagree with many things on it. I'm sure the experts did not base themselves on stats only.

[Raze Lupin]

All right Raze Lupin, I get your point. It's not a scientifical thing of course, those are opinions and another panel of experts would make up a different list. But I just have to disagree with many things on it. I'm sure the experts did not base themselves on stats only.

I agree with you on that. Dirk is maybe 2 spots to low. Parker should be in the top 25. Rose and West brook have identical stats yet Westbrook is ranked significantly lower(that makes little sense to me). Pau is too low he should be top 10. Chris Bosh is too low there are other players I think are too low or too high.

This is what Tyson Chandler tweeted about Dirk being #5

Dirk Nowitzki (tweeted by Tyson Chandler)
#NBArank: No. 5
Somebody please explain how @swish41(Dirk) is ranked 5th in the N.B.A after last year? Name 1 player that played better? & don't worry I got time.
Wed Oct 19 04:26:45 via Twitter for iPhone
Tyson Chandler
tysonchandler

[Ciscorlie Horford]

Rose and West brook have identical stats yet Westbrook is ranked significantly lower(that makes little sense to me).

if that's what you believe, basically he shouldn't have been named the MVP then.

and I'm not saying that you are wrong, just pointing that out