The definitive ranking of the NBA’s best players.
For your perusal, a short list of Deron Williams’s accomplishments since joining the NBA as the third overall pick in 2005:
• 2005-06 All-Rookie First Team
• Second in assists (to Steve Nash) in 2006-07
• Led the Utah Jazz to the 2007 Western Conference Finals
• Averaged double-doubles in 2007-08 and 2008-09
• Third in assists (to Steve Nash and Chris Paul) in 2007-08
• 2007-08 Skills Challenge Champion
• 2007-08 All-NBA Second Team
• 2008 Olympic Gold Medal
• Second in assists (to Chris Paul) in 2008-09
• Beat former Tour de France champion Floyd Landis in a bicycle race (with a considerable head start)
• One of only two active players (Steve Nash) to have four 20-assist games
And here’s a few things he hasn’t done yet:
• Gotten a triple-double
• Won the Nobel Peace Prize
• Been named to the NBA All-Star team
The first two are somewhat understandable. Williams is young. He has time. But the third? Entirely inexplicable. It’s not that his team doesn’t win—the Jazz have won 51, 54 and 48 games the last three seasons, after making a 15-win jump to .500 his rookie year. It’s not that Williams is just along for the ride—Jerry Sloan trusts him enough to let him call a majority of plays on the floor, something John Stockton rarely did. By any measurable standard (except for maybe tattoos and haircuts), Williams is one of the top three—if not two—point guards in the game. And he can’t even make an All-Star team? What in the name of Rod Strickland is going on here?
It gets better. In ’07-08, Williams made the All-NBA Second Team on the strength of his 18.8 points and 10.5 assists per game. Last year he boosted both of those numbers, to career-highs of 19.4 and 10.7—and didn’t make All-NBA at all. Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Brandon Roy, Chris Paul, Chauncey Billups, Tony Parker. They all made it. Williams was the only player to receive more than 100 points in the voting and not be named to one of the three teams. Yes, he missed 14 games last season (all but one in November), but Carmelo Anthony missed 16 and still was named to the third team. The Jazz were 15-26 on the road, but so were the Miami Heat, and Wade made first team.
To be fair, save the gold medal, Deron hasn’t won anything yet—at least not since he was the 116-pound Texas state wrestling champ as a 12-year-old back in 1997. But he led The Colony high school to two straight state semifinals, Illinois to the 2005 NCAA Finals (hitting a pair of huge shots against Arizona and being named MOP of the Chicago regional in the process), and the aforementioned Jazz to the aforementioned 2007 Western Conference Finals. He hasn’t won rings, but he’s won respect.
Is he as good as Chris Paul? Probably not. If you’re a Hollinger disciple who worships at the Church of PER, Paul ran roughshod over Williams last year. A big part of the disparity was thanks to steals—Paul led the League, while Deron wasn’t in the top 20. But Deron is big (a legit 6-3, 210), he’s durable (he’d missed four games total prior to last season), and every bit an All-Star in game, if not in name. And with Paul in his conference, not to mention Nash, Chauncey Billups and Tony Parker, next year isn’t guaranteed either.
For his sake, here’s hoping Allen Iverson doesn’t have a resurgence.
Notes
• Rankings are based solely on projected ’09-10 performance.
• Contributors to this list include: Jake Appleman, Brett Ballantini, Russ Bengtson, Toney Blare, Shannon Booher, Myles Brown, Franklyn Calle, Gregory Dole, Emry DowningHall, Jonathan Evans, Adam Fleischer, Jeff Fox, Sherman Johnson, Aaron Kaplowitz, John Krolik, Holly MacKenzie, Ryne Nelson, Chris O’Leary, Ben Osborne, Alan Paul, Susan Price, Sam Rubenstein, Khalid Salaam, Kye Stephenson, Adam Sweeney, Vincent Thomas, Tzvi Twersky, Justin Walsh, Joey Whelan, Eric Woodyard, and Nima Zarrabi.
• Want more of the SLAMonline Top 50? Check out the archive.
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snagged myself a d will jersey a couple of summers back for about 12 dollars on a holiday from the uk!!
but i’m shocked that he isn’t an all star yet
Still, he should probably listen to Coach Sloan more often..
Also, you’re a wimp and a loser and the Lakers suck.
But just for sh*ts and giggles, you forgot Bill Walton, Artis Gilmore, and Arvydas Sabonis. Oh, and maybe Issel.
Consider this conversation done.
I really think Deron is better. Ah well.
Yes Melo should be in the top ten he;s been improving his defense and imo his D was already a lot better watching him in the WCF last season.
I’m not sure if you were serious. I hope you weren’t.
Anyway, I honestly think that Brandon Roy is a tad overrated. He’s nice as hell, but I wouldn’t mind having Joe Johnson instead of Brandon Roy as my starting two guard.
And I wouldn’t want to build a team around either of them.
9 – kevin durant
8 – brandon roy
7 – dirk nowitzki
6 – tim duncan
5 – dwight howard
4 – chris paul
3 – kobe bryant
2 – dwayne wade
1 – lebron james
In my mind, they’re not close.
Still, not hating for the ranking.
Love the new image.
More on Deron (best point guard in the world) along with the list with the top-10 PG’s worldwide later.
Roy is nice as hell, but really all I can see him adding to his game right now is saavy and somewhat better jumper. His almost to his ceiling right now, and his ceiling is not in the same conversation as Kobe, Lebron and Wade.
Now, on the Deron Williams tip, I think that Dwil has greater potential because of his ability to put up high scoring totals while almost giving you double digit assists, and shooting a high percentage. Seriously, Roy and Dwill damn near handle the ball the same amount, but Dwill is a better decision maker, and I honestly think he can get buckets against any guard in the league.
I like Roy, but I think folks have an inflated idea of how great he’s going to be.
1)Deron
2)Calderon
3-5)Billups-Diamantidis-Parker
6)Paul
7-10)Lakovic-Nash-Rose-Spanoulis.
2)Calderon
3-5)Billups-Diamantidis-Parker
6)Paul
7-10)Lakovic-Nash-Rose-Spanoulis
Some of the cats responded to me that he was knocking on the Lebron, Kobe, Wade door, and I thought that needed to be addressed. I really don’t see him every being as good as though three players have been at their absolute primes. He doesn’t have the physical tools in my opinion.
That doesn’t mean he’s wack. He’s top five at his position right behind Kobe and Wade.
However, I think he dominates the ball and makes it hard for a point guard to run the show. So, that’s why I kind of like Joe Johnson better because I think Joe can get his buckets with fewer shots. I mean, I read something where Roy was already a little miffed because he’s touching the ball less in the new offense Nate installed.
Point blank, I think Roy is a better suited to being a second banana, but his skill set prospers with a lot of touches.
*ever
*those
9. Eva Angelina
8. Stephen Colbert
7. The corpse of Ben Wallace
6. Kobe
5. Wade
4. LeBron
3. LeBron
2. Derrick Rose
1. Allen Iverson
9.)Dirk Nowitzki
8.)Brandon Roy
7.)Kevin Durant
6.)Dwight Howard
5.)Chris Paul
4.)Carmelo Anthony:Yeah I said it. 45 points in 24 mins!!dude is lethal
3.)Dwyane Wade
2.)Kobe Bryant
1.)LeBron James
top 10… seriously?!
At this point, he is a very good scorer. I’ll give him that. But that’s it. He is strictly one-dimensional- his rebounding, passing, ball-handling, and defense remain a work in progress. And yet, you’re telling me he has a bigger impact on a basketball game than say, Deron Williams? Sure, in a few years, he will be well on his way, but this ranking concerns the coming season (does it not?) I would argue that Danny Granger is a better player at this stage than Durant, and yet Granger is only ranked #21?
KD is good, but he hasn’t done enough yet to justify being one of the top 10 NBA players.
Utah as a team hasn’t changed but as Deron Williams is given the reins of the offense from Sloan and the team has gotten worse. Has anyone else noticed this?
Let’s take playoff averages:
20.2/9.4 on 46% shooting for Deron
21.9/11 on 48% shooting for Paul
That’s “real talk.” Deron would never be shut down by Billups and Jones because Deron would just toss the rock to Boozer or Brewer and just work off the ball. Paul doesn’t have that luxury– dude’s the team, he has to control the rock.
Man… some kids these days…
20.2/9.4 on 46% shooting for Deron
21.9/11 on 48% shooting for Paul
That’s “real talk.” “(!!!!!!!!!!)
Man… some kids ,not these days but ALWAYS, do the same mistake…..bball is much more than stats, get over your fantasy league obsession and get out at the park just for a change. it will also do good to your health both physical/mental (please take with you tavoris,allenp,etc. they need it too)
Spanny: Once again, your lack of anything outside of your boring FIBA basketball clouds your judgment.
Chris Paul is ‘better suited’ for NBA style play. As we learned from the Olympics, Deron is ‘better suited’ for FIBA style play. Why does this mean Deron is a better overall basketball player? If I understand correctly, the best FIBA basketball players (Manu, Dirk, Gasol, Parker, Calderon) all play in the NBA, and since the american players came and beat all the European teams in the Olympics under FIBA style, I’m gonna go ahead and put the NBA one level above the ‘world’ style… and because of my amazing logic, which you could never grasp, that means that Chris Paul, who is ‘better suited to play in the NBA’ is better than Deron who is ‘better suited to play in FIBA’
Maybe if they both played in the ACB, I’d say Deron was better than Paul.
@Jukai….:american players had their first success in almost a decade and you come out with such a hilarious/arrogant argument like this…??LOL!!!! ok, i cannot pretend being amazed by this behavior this is exactly what i was expecting. I can only imagine what would have happened if Argentinians (or Serbs) had the same mentality as you(fontunatelly they are more down to earth and humble).
But let’s go player for player, instead of naming one dude and ‘conveniently’ forgetting about the rest of the team:
James Posey vs Andre Kirilenkoo
Peja Stojakovic vs Ronnie Brewer (remember, this is today’s Peja, you know the dude shooting under 40%)
Tyson Chandler vs ‘Memo’ Okur
Hilton Armstrong vs Paul Milsap
Morris Peterson vs Kyle Korver
Rasual Butler vs CJ Miles
EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE MATCHUPS, I put my money on the Jazz. Not even close (the only one that is debatable is Chandler vs Okur– lemme ask, which one of those dudes made an all-star team?). Utah has a superior team, I mean REALLY just much better team… and Utah is coached by one of the greatest coaches of all time in Jerry Sloan. New Orleans? Byron F’in Scott. But yeah, you got me, David West is ‘slightly’ better than Boozer so I guess I’ll have to give this one to Deron Williams.
Lemme repeat: Cp3 has a better record on a worse team and has better stats, and he’s worse because “he’s all speed?”
alright cb34, you think what you want.
Great! Once again, your blinder logic is astounding.
I gotta know dude, how old are you? Really. I think I’m going to be shocked when I found out the answer.
Oh, and you’re wrong about CP3. Just because you like how Deron plays better, doesn’t mean he’s better. It’s a hard concept for me to get through your head, and I don’t have any finger puppets to help me explain, so you’re just going to have to take my word for it.
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