The definitive ranking of the NBA’s best players.
by Sean Ceglinsky
There’s a lot to like about Brandon Roy’s game. Dude is about as well-rounded as they come. He’s one of those a jack of all trades types, a cat you definitely want on your team, but definitely despise having to play against more than a handful of times over the course of an NBA season.
Roy can score, seemingly at will, when he puts his mind to it. He’s not afraid to mix it up inside either, down low in the 
block against the best big men in the League. Roy is unselfish with the rock in his hands too. And believe it or not, he gets after things on the defensive end of the floor.
By most accounts, he’s the face of the Portland Trail Blazers. Roy has been largely, although not solely, responsible for helping to clean up the image of the franchise. Remember, not long ago, the Trail Blazers were known as the Jail Blazers. Times were, indeed, tough in the Pacific Northwest.
With Roy in the mix, order has been restored, and rightfully so.
Taking all of these things into consideration, it’s makes complete sense that Roy checks in at the No. 11 in the SLAMonline Top 50.
About the only knock on him is that he’s tended to be a tad bit injury prone in the past, otherwise a strong case could be made for him cracking the Top 10.
For those who aren’t believers in BRoy and are looking for further proof of his upper echelon play, one need not look any further than his consistent statistics during his four-year career. He’s averaged at least 16 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists per game in each season. In our book, that’s getting it done, straight up, on a nightly basis. The numbers don’t lie.
In his first year, he averaged 16.8 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.1 assists per night en route to winning the Rookie of the Year award.
For an encore, he averaged 19.1 points, 4.7 boards and 5.8 dimes in his second season. The third time around, Roy averaged 22.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.1 assists. Last year, he finished with averages of 21.5 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.7 assists.
What’s not to like about that kind of production?
Four years later, Roy has three NBA All-Star games on his resume, which is looking rather nice these days. And there’s no reason to think that he’s not capable of adding another selection to his growing list when the festivities take place at Staples Center in Los Angeles this season.
Again, if not for some bad luck with the injury bug, he has yet to play a full 82-game season, we’d most likely be arguing about Roy’s inclusion in Top 10 of this list. Then again, there’s always next year’s SLAMonline’s Top 50. Our guess is, he’ll take the next step sooner rather than later. If the past is any indication of what’s in store for the future, things appear promising.
| SLAMonline TOP 50 PLAYERS | OVERALL RANK | POSITION RANK | ||||
| Player | Team | Position | 2010 | 2009 | 2010 | 2009 |
| Ray Allen | Celtics | SG | 50 | 36 | 10 | 9 |
| Gilbert Arenas | Wizards | SG | 49 | 34 | 9 | 8 |
| Lamar Odom | Lakers | PF | 48 | 33 | 14 | 10 |
| John Wall | Wizards | PG | 47 | NR | 13 | NR |
| OJ Mayo | Grizzlies | SG | 46 | 46 | 8 | 12 |
| Al Horford | Hawks | C | 45 | NR | 6 | NR |
| Jason Kidd | Mavs | PG | 44 | 45 | 12 | 10 |
| Joakim Noah | Bulls | C | 43 | NR | 5 | NR |
| LaMarcus Aldridge | Blazers | PF | 42 | 39 | 13 | 12 |
| David West | Hornets | PF | 41 | 31 | 12 | 8 |
| Monta Ellis | Warriors | SG | 40 | NR | 7 | NR |
| Andrew Bogut | Bucks | C | 39 | NR | 4 | NR |
| Yao Ming | Rockets | C | 38 | NR | 3 | NR |
| Brandon Jennings | Bucks | PG | 37 | NR | 11 | NR |
| Zach Randolph | Grizzlies | PF | 36 | NR | 11 | NR |
| Stephen Curry | Warriors | PG | 35 | NR | 10 | NR |
| David Lee | Warriors | PF | 34 | NR | 10 | NR |
| Brook Lopez | Nets | C | 33 | NR | 2 | NR |
| Gerald Wallace | Bobcats | SF | 32 | NR | 7 | NR |
| Manu Ginobili | Spurs | SG | 31 | 29 | 6 | 7 |
| Tony Parker | Spurs | PG | 30 | 15 | 9 | 3 |
| Kevin Garnett | Celtics | PF | 29 | 13 | 9 | 3 |
| Rudy Gay | Grizzlies | SF | 28 | 44 | 6 | 9 |
| Josh Smith | Hawks | PF | 27 | 40 | 8 | 13 |
| Andre Iguodala | 76ers | SG | 26 | 26 | 5 | 6 |
| Al Jefferson | Jazz | PF | 25 | 23 | 7 | 7 |
| Russell Westbrook | Thunder | PG | 24 | NR | 8 | NR |
| Chauncey Billups | Nuggets | PG | 23 | 19 | 7 | 5 |
| Tyreke Evans | Kings | PG | 22 | NR | 6 | NR |
| Danny Granger | Pacers | SF | 21 | 21 | 5 | 5 |
| Carlos Boozer | Bulls | PF | 20 | 32 | 6 | 9 |
| Paul Pierce | Celtics | SF | 19 | 17 | 4 | 4 |
| Joe Johnson | Hawks | SG | 18 | 20 | 4 | 4 |
| Rajon Rondo | Celtics | PG | 17 | 27 | 5 | 8 |
| Amar’e Stoudemire | Knicks | PF | 16 | 16 | 5 | 6 |
| Steve Nash | Suns | PG | 15 | 22 | 4 | 6 |
| Tim Duncan | Spurs | PF | 14 | 6 | 4 | 1 |
| Chris Bosh | Heat | PF | 13 | 13 | 3 | 4 |
| Derrick Rose | Bulls | PG | 12 | 18 | 3 | 4 |
| Brandon Roy | Blazers | SG | 11 | 10 | 3 | 3 |
Notes
• Rankings are based solely on projected ’10-11 performance.
• Contributors to this list include: Jeremy Bauman, Maurice Bobb, Erildas Budraitis, Sean Ceglinsky, Ben Collins, Bryan Crawford, Sandy Dover, Adam Figman, Manny Maduakolam, Eddie Maisonet, Ryne Nelson, Doobie Okon, Ben Osborne, Charles Peach, Branden Peters, Quinn Peterson, David Schnur, Todd Spehr, Kyle Stack, Adam Sweeney, Dennis Tarwood, Tracy Weissenberg, Lang Whitaker, Eric Woodyard, and Nima Zarrabi.
• Want more of the SLAMonline Top 50? Check out the archive.
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