Category Archives: Rankings

NTTB Rank: Top 2

Offseason Beat, Rankings, ,

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Previous Player Rankings: 20-16 | 15-12 | 11-8 | 7-5 | 4-3 |

Think back to last season. The Russell Westbrook show. What an amazing ride! The 42 triple-doubles. The insane finishes. The record usage rate. Another MVP season for Oklahoma City. But with all the beauty, you also had to take the ugliness. The packed paint. The box-and-1 defenses. The clanging of long-range jump shots. A first round exit. The dependency on just one player.

Last season was great on an individual level. Westbrook had a season for the ages. But it was a season that was necessitated by the departure of Kevin Durant. If Westbrook doesn’t got supernova, the Thunder likely struggle to make the playoffs. And thankfully for the Thunder, Westbrook is not one to go quietly into the night. But last year’s team was not for just Westbrook. It was designed for both Westbrook and Durant. With one of those components gone, the Thunder were a walking identity crisis for 87 games. Continue reading NTTB Rank: Top 2 →

NTTB Rank: 4-3

Offseason Beat, Rankings, ,

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Previous Player Rankings: 20-16 | 15-12 | 11-8 | 7-5 |

We’re into the heavy hitters now. The top four players on a team usually establish the foundation for the team. Show me a team whose top four guys aren’t necessarily established, and I’ll show you a team that has a shaky foundation. Show me a team that has a strong foursome, and I’ll show you a team that has a strong foundation and is likely a top-10 team.

The craze nowadays is to accumulate a big 3. Get three superstar-level players, and the rest will work itself out. But, on all of those teams, there was a fourth player that was usually the glue between the superstars. For the Boston Big 3, Rajon Rondo served as the glue between Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett. For Miami, it was Udonis Haslem, Mario Chalmers, and Shane Battier alternating as the fourth guy during different seasons. And most recently, Klay Thompson has been that guy for the Golden State Warriors. Have a strong no. 4 guy and your team is destined for great things. Continue reading NTTB Rank: 4-3 →

NTTB Rank: 7-5

Offseason Beat, Rankings, , ,

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Previous Player Rankings: 20-16 | 15-12 | 11-8 |

Now we get into the meat of the rotation. From here on out, these are likely the players that will eat up the bulk of the minutes played and will likely be the ones finishing out games. Injuries to any of these players will have a big effect on the team moving forward.

7. Enes Kanter

YEAR TEAM MIN FG% 3PT FG% FT% REBS ASTS STLS BLKS PTS
16-17 Thunder 21.3 .545 .132 .786 6.7 0.9 0.4 0.5 14.3

Kanter Continue reading NTTB Rank: 7-5 →