When ESPN released this year's "NBARank," my good friend and sports junkie Mark "HD" Rue said, "They do this on purpose."
And what exactly did he mean by that?
Well, let's just say that some of these rankings are meant to get a rise out of people. Despite knowing that, I still have the intense desire to right some of ESPN's egregious wrongs. If you missed Volume I of my systematic destruction, feel free to check it out here. Let's get right into Volume II...
There was a time when I respected Tristan Thompson as an NBA player. When he was younger, hungrier and actually tried, I thought he was a very useful role player. Once he held out and signed that 5-year, $82 million contract, everything changed. He's been doggin' it ever since, AND he's dating a Kardashian. That's the NBA kiss of death.
Tristan averaged just 8.1 PPG last season; not to mention the fact that he disappeared from the face of the earth in the NBA Finals. He simply isn't a hungry player anymore. Again, you can check out Volume I of my attack on ESPN's NBARank to see some players I rank significantly higher than him. Here are a handful of quick examples of better, more impactful players: Dennis Schroder, Lou Williams, Dion Waiters and Jeff Teague.
Johnny Fro's Rankings: Teague (54) and Thompson (unranked).
This is the central problem I always seem to have with these competing lists: ESPN, Sports Illustrated and the like consistently rank replaceable role players above offensive focal points.
Danny Green has hit a helluva lot of clutch playoff threes for the Spurs, and I wholeheartedly respect him for that. But here's the reality of the situation: Carmelo Anthony has scored 62 points in an NBA game. Devin Booker has scored SEVENTY points in an NBA game.
Plain and simple, does Green have that kind of potential? Does his game have that kind of scoring versatility and explosiveness?
Of course it doesn't. The reality is that Booker and Melo can carry your offense if needed, while Green is a 3-and-D, floor spacing role player. Electric scorers and role players aren't on the same level.
Johnny Fro's Rankings: Melo (34), Booker (44) and Green (unranked).
I'm not sure people realize that Andrew Wiggins is one of the premier scorers in the NBA. He's still only 22 years old, and has improved his PPG from 16.9 to 20.7 to 23.6 in just three seasons in the league. He can shoot, drive, finish and draw fouls. He's a complete scorer with an arrow pointing up.
Brogdon, on the other hand, is a nice little sparkplug of a player. He gave Jason Kidd's Bucks a nice lift in his rookie season, but we all know the only reason he won the Rookie of the Year is because Joel Embiid (20.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game) only took the court in 31 games. Now, I appreciate the fact that Brogdon played in 75 -- durability is always an invaluable commodity -- but the kid averaged 10.2 points and 4.2 assists per game. He didn't set the world on fire.
Wiggins clearly has the potential to be a 25-30 PPG scorer, whereas Brogdon is a high-energy role player at the point guard position. We are talking about two different stratospheres, here.
Johnny Fro's Rankings: Wiggins (32) and Brogdon (91).
Come on, people! Seriously?? What is it with this newfound "expert" obsession with the Philadelphia 76ers?
Sure they have plus talent in Embiid, Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz...but have Simmons or Fultz even played an NBA game yet? And as you can see, I don't include Covington in this "plus" talent pool.
ROBERT COVINGTON IS BETTER THAN ANDREW WIGGINS, DEVIN BOOKER AND CARMELO ANTHONY???
Clearly, I'm having difficulty getting over this ranking. Covington is a good defender who hits threes. He's a garden variety 3-and-D guy, by today's NBA standards. He averaged 12.9 PPG last season while shooting a pathetic 39.9% from the floor! I can't. My blood pressure is escalating to an unsafe level. Why must you do this to me, ESPN??!
And don't get me wrong, every NBA team needs solid role players. Guys who know their limitations and will enhance the production of their team's go-to guys. But, here's the bit of logic missing from ESPN and SI's ranking systems: The role players are useless without the go-to guys! Useless. If you had a team of 5 limited role players, you'd be the lowest scoring team in the NBA and you might be competitive against a top D-League team.
That's just the nature of basketball -- you need talented penetrators and scorers for your club to have any success. Covington and Patrick Patterson can stand in the corner all they want; their occasional threes are meaningless without guys like Wiggins, Booker and Melo facilitating offense throughout the flow of a long, 48-minute NBA game. Of course the superior versions of guys like Wiggins, Booker and Melo are LeBron James, Russell Westbrook and James Harden; but you get the idea.
Johnny Fro's Ranking: Covington (unranked, clearly)
All right, I gotta call it quits on this one before I get too worked up. Look out for Volume III of my attack in the coming weeks.
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