John David Mercer – USA TODAY Sports
Sports Illustrated’s Ben Golliver and Rob Mahoney have released their NBA Top-10 List. The list is hardly anything official and is largely based on how the players on the list will perform this upcoming season alone.
Miami Heat forward and reigning league MVP LeBron James tops the list, followed by Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder. So much for objectivity. There’s not a statistic that would keep the perennial All-Stars out of the top two positions.
Los Angeles Clippers guard Chris Paul was listed as third on the list. Based on his past performances, he’s worthy of such a high ranking. Yet, this list is based on future performances, which adds more pressure to a man who has generated the longest to-do list in the history of an NBA offseason.
Looking around the league at point guards alone, there are several guards on better teams more likely to go further than the Clippers this upcoming season. Fortunately for Paul, Cleveland Cavaliers star Kyrie Irving is not on such a team. However, the young guard is everything Paul is with younger knees and significantly more athleticism.
The same can’t be said about Chicago Bulls‘ Derrick Rose. The 2010 MVP is said to be back at 100 percent after missing last season with a knee injury. A healthy Rose makes the Bulls a favorite to compete in the Eastern Conference Finals. The last time Rose was healthy, he was not only the best player in the league, but he was also the best point guard in NBA.
Baby-faced sharpshooter Stephen Curry led the Golden State Warriors to the second round of the last season’s playoffs. In just his fourth season, Curry is already mentioned in the conversation of the elite in the league, and has yet to perform up to his projected potential.
The Warriors were knocked out of the playoffs by the San Antonio Spurs due to youth and inexperience, not talent. With the addition of Andre Iguodala, the Warriors may have enough talent to outlast all the experience a team can throw at them.
The Clippers were sent to the driving range in the first round of the playoffs by a Memphis Grizzlies team that was simply better than Paul and company. Although the Clippers will start the upcoming season with many new faces, it’s uncertain if the changes are enough to get them past several teams that fared better last post season, and got better in the offseason.
ChristopherBrown is an NBA writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @whatrockschris. Like Him on Facebook.
