The definitive ranking of the NBA’s best players.
by Quinn Peterson / @QwinFNP
The “most underrated player in the League” title gets passed around from year-to-year like a red, white and blue Globetrotter ball. It’s mere coincidence that this season’s nominee rocks a red, white and blue jersey.
Entering his fourth season in the L, Eric Gordon is as steady as it gets. So much, in fact, that Gordon suffers from that syndrome where one is so consistently good—so habitually on-point—that his contributions often go overlooked and under-appreciated.
But truth be told, you’d be hard-pressed to come across a better 2-man, save Kobe or DWade. There’s an argument to be made that, in terms of bang-for-buck, he’s ahead of cash-guzzlers like Joe Johnson and Monta Ellis, too.
All this being said, SLAM hasn’t been sleeping on EG, as Aggrey Sam has already laid out many of these points in KICKS 14.
After turning averages of 16.1 and 16.9 in his first two seasons, respectively, Gordon stepped it up to 22 per last year, to go along with 4.4 assists and 3 boards. Efficient percentages are always nice, too: 45 percent from the field, 82 percent from the line, 37 percent from deep.
Not a specialist, but a well-rounded, do-it-all type with no major weaknesses, the explosion was to be expected: Gordon was a member of the “B Team” USA that won the FIBA World Championships last summer. Most of that cast went on to have the best seasons of their careers—Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant, Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook and Gordon, in particular. Originally brought on as the token knock-down shooter, Gordon provided far more than that, serving as one of the team’s primary lock-down defenders, as well.
At 6-3, 220, physically, he’s built like a piece of granite. Skill-wise, he’s rock-solid, as well. In fact, it’s the “Rock”—Mitch Richmond—who many have appropriately likened him to. Though a couple inches shorter than Richmond, the comparison is dead-on. Great shooter and scorer, in general, tough slasher, solid defender. One who, despite having the utmost respect of his peers, flew under the radar on the left coast.
But Gordon is far more athletic, and this is where cats really sleep on him at (and how he makes up for being 6-3). He’s got the same 40-inch vert as his 2008 Draft classmate—and former AAU teammate—Derrick Rose. Didn’t know? Don’t believe it? Holla at Tim Duncan, James Anderson, Paul Millsap, or Roy Hibbert for their personal testimonies.
His kryptonite, however, has been his health. While he played in 78 games as a rook, he missed 20 games in his sophomore campaign, and played in just 56 games last season.
If he can manage to keep it together for a full season or, at the least, 70+ games, that will be a major step in him cementing his place in the game. Winning, the universal cure-all, will surely assist him, as well. Thus far, the Clips have improved in each of his three seasons, moving from 19-63 to 29-53 to 32-50.
With a solid core of young talent surrounding Gordon, including the incredible Blake Griffin, things certainly seem to be looking up for the Clippers and Gordon, alike. Don’t be surprised to see him crack the top 25 as early as next season, either.
| SLAMonline Top 50 Players 2011 | ||||
| Rank | Player | Team | Position | Pos. Rank |
| 50 | Luol Deng | Bulls | SF | 8 |
| 49 | Andrew Bogut | Bucks | C | 7 |
| 48 | Ray Allen | Celtics | SG | 9 |
| 47 | Marc Gasol | Grizzlies | C | 6 |
| 46 | David West | Hornets | PF | 15 |
| 45 | Kevin Martin | Rockets | SG | 8 |
| 44 | Andrew Bynum | Lakers | C | 5 |
| 43 | Brandon Jennings | Bucks | PG | 11 |
| 42 | Lamar Odom | Lakers | PF | 14 |
| 41 | Gerald Wallace | Blazers | SF | 7 |
| 40 | Brook Lopez | Nets | C | 4 |
| 39 | Joakim Noah | Bulls | C | 3 |
| 38 | Carlos Boozer | Bulls | PF | 13 |
| 37 | Kevin Garnett | Celtics | PF | 12 |
| 36 | Eric Gordon | Clippers | SG | 7 |
Notes
• Rankings are based solely on projected ’11-12 performance.
• Contributors to this list include: Maurice Bobb, Shannon Booher, David Cassilo, Bryan Crawford, Sandy Dover, Adam Figman, Jon Jaques, Eldon Khorshidi, Ryne Nelson, Doobie Okon, Ben Osborne, Quinn Peterson, Dave Schnur, Abe Schwadron, Dan Shapiro, Irv Soonachan, Todd Spehr, Tzvi Twersky, Yaron Weitzman, DeMarco Williams and Ben York.
• Want more of the SLAMonline Top 50? Check out the archive.
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Dude kind of reminds me of a slightly-less athletic DWade with the way he attacks the rim and finishes with ease over bigs.
On another note, I’m starting to feel Tim Duncan might not make top 50 on this list. Damn.
Hope him and Blake can stick around and make the Clips a contender one day…
1. Wade
2. Kobe
3.Monta(Offensive minded slam)
4.????
5.ISo joe
6.????
7. Eric Gordon??
He has the skills, explosiveness and strength to be a great player but he lacks the all-around game needed to become an elite player. That’s what separates the Kobe/Wade and to a lesser extent Manu, from the pack, their ability to dominate the game in different ways.
While Ellis suffers from the same injury problems as EG but he’s more durable. A better passer, scorer, and he was right up there near the top of the L in steals. They are both equals when it comes to efficiency and rebounding.
EG has the skills to pass him in the near future but I have to give the edge to Ellis.
Just making sure, Mike Beasley isn’t on this list right?
I woulda maybe thought 50-45?
Are the Clippers the best dunking team in the NBA? I think so.
But this guard has many skills, he defends well, passes well, slashes defense well, shoots from quite good range… it seems fair to me to rank him ahead of Ray (who’s quite ageing but should still be higher than K-Mart & Lopez & Jennings) and of course Martin who may be a better shooter (not sure though) but is not as good an overall player.
With the good interior sector of the Clippers, he’s going to have a great season. Mo Williams is going to play as a facilitater more than a shooter and they may have a good balance. Maybe Clippers in playoffs? Each year we think they have a good roster and they don’t make it, maybe it’ll be the time.
Some who have watched him might argue he’s too low but they have to think about who is still to be ranked. The NBA is very dense now!
Ahead of him at the guard position:
1. Kobe
2. Wade
3. J. Johnson – even though he’s not worthy of his contract and will be ranked too high anyway.
4. Monta
5. Manu
6. Brandon Roy – who should be higher but is hurt badly.
U think slam is thinking BRoy is gonna have a better year than EG?
what makes you think he’s an average defender?
Kevin put up 28, 29, 30 against Monta Last Season.
Manu put up 27, 12, 20, 28 – And never played more then 31 minutes against him. ————————————————————
And I’m sure I can grab more SG’s and other Wing players who performed above their season average against MOnta Ellis.
——————————————————————— Click my name for the source
what do you think is gonna happen to your stats when you have to play extended minutes with radmonivic, gadzuric, acie law, an injured andris biedrins, reggie williams, rodney carney, lou amundson?
if you consider him a decent defender, great.
if anything, we can discuss monta whenever he shows up on this list
and the man is also clutch!!
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