On Wednesday night, Draymond Green recorded his fourth triple-double of the season and didn’t play a minute in the fourth quarter. That is significant, because for the last decade, LeBron James has defined the point forward position. But now Green is redefining it. We aren’t quite ready to call him the best small forward in the NBA, much less the best small forward in the Western Conference. LeBron and Kevin Durant are going to be hard to knock off those mantles. But
Ever heard of a racehorse named Twice a Prince? Ever heard of a young woman from Nevada named Nia Sanchez? Or how about the poker player Joshua Beckley, who had a whole bunch of TV time in November. Any of those names ring a bell? Probably not … and you know why? They all finished second. Twice a Prince finished a mere 31 lengths behind the legendary Secretariat in the 1973 Belmont Stakes. Sanchez, despite a controversy over whether she qualified for Nevada residency or
So it was a good morning and a bad morning. I awoke to learn I had won $45 in Wednesday night’s big contest at DraftKings, finishing 1,730th out of 22,900 entrants to make a profit of $25 after my $20 entry fee. My lineup was anchored by Paul George (26 pts, 10 reb), Rajon Rondo (triple-double of 14 pts, 15 ast, 11 reb), Dirk Nowitzki (31 pts, 11 reb), Jeff Teague (14 pts, 10 ast), Kyle Lowry (23 pts, 8 ast)
Centers are considered a dying breed in today’s NBA. More teams are playing small ball than ever before with a focus on pushing the tempo and improving floor spacing. Heck, the league even removed the center position from the All-Star ballot in 2012. However, as you will see by the depth in our center rankings and the names not on the list, the demise of the position is a premature misconception. You won’t find two former All-Stars and Defensive Player of the
The youth movement at power forward has arrived in the form of Anthony Davis and Blake Griffin. Derrick Favors, a fellow rising talent who has improved across the board over the past five seasons, missed the cut in our top 10 rankings. However, don’t be surprised if Favors joins the rankings in a year or so from now. At 23, his best basketball is ahead of him and he is just scratching the surface of his ceiling as a player for
While point guard is regularly lauded as the top position in the league in terms of star power and depth, how about some love for the small forwards? Seven small forwards featured on this list participated in Team USA’s minicamp this summer. This list includes two MVPs, a scoring champion, a Defensive Player of the Year, a recently crowned Rookie of the Year, a “Greek Freak” and a Finals MVP. Proven veterans such as Luol Deng and Joe Johnson – as well as
The familiar days of Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade leading the shooting guard rankings are over. In fact, Bryant, Wade and Monta Ellis are the only players over 30 to crack our top 10 rankings at the position. James Harden, Klay Thompson and Jimmy Butler are the new – and younger – top dogs at the position. DeMar DeRozan, Bradley Beal and Khris Middleton are three rising young stars listed that could vault within the top five by next season. Shooting guard is thin
Point guard is the most important and deepest position in the NBA. How deep? Take a look at some of the players not featured in our top 10 rankings at the position. You won’t find Derrick Rose, the league’s youngest MVP four years ago. Over the past three seasons, Rose has missed 185 of a possible 246 games. Asking Rose to return to his MVP form is out of the question. Asking Rose to return to his All-Star form appears bleak, too. How about