#NBARank: Mavs on the ESPN 500 List

[nowhereman]

Being released over on ESPN.com, along with their cumulative ranking from 0-10. Not putting any real stock in it, but it's slow these days and this allows us to see the consensus around our players and where they stand relative to each other and relative to the rest of the league. I'll update this post when I can.

Mavs on the list so far:

#492 - Tadija Dragicevic - 1.63 - 6 spots ahead of Shan Foster!
#463 - Jared Cunningham - 2.03
#447 - Bernard James - 2.19 - ranked right behind Matt Carroll
#380 - Dominique Jones - 2.68 - better than Shelden Williams, Jonny Flynn, Jannero Pargo
#339 - Jae Crowder - 2.96 - comes in just a bit behind Meyers Leonard
#301 - Dahntay Jones - 3.29
#212 - Brandan Wright - 4.20
#204 - Roddy Beaubois - 4.29 - immediately behind Corey Brewer
#185 - Vince Carter - 4.52 - among other older successful roleplayers like Rip Hamilton, Hinrich
#159 - Delonte West - 4.72 - about the same neighborhood as Jarrett Jack, Danny Green
#113 - Chris Kaman - 5.24 - ahead of Kendrick Perkins, Lam Lam, Thabo, and others.
#98 - Darren Collison - 5.51
#92 - Shawn Marion - 5.59
#90 - OJ Mayo - 5.60
#85 - Elton Brand - 5.75
#11 - Dirk Nowitzki - 8.64 - right ahead of Rondo (12), Bynum (13), Griffin (14)

[spreedom]

I love that Shan Foster, who hasn't and probably never will play in an NBA game, is ranked two spots above Eddy Curry.

[markus1234]

I am already pissed about Dirk's ranking.

He got no respect in 2011 and now it will be even worse...probably top 15-20.

[BGMaverick9]

Sounds like a great talking point, but it's just a bunch of white noise in the big picture.

[nowhereman]

Brian Cardinal just came in as an FA at #402, with a 2.55 composite score.

Higher than former mavs including Shawne Williams, Stack, Najera, Damp, Sean Williams, and James Singleton.

[Bayliss]

I give this rating such a big "who cares?"

[OSUmavsfan]

These lower rankings are especially useless, since no one has seen a lot of these players play in the NBA. I actually find the higher rankings interesting because I know that a lot of the people ESPN has ranking these players are guys that watch a lot of games.

BTW I believe Jared Cunningham is the lowest ranked 1st round pick, but I hope that's just a product of not getting any exposure in summer league.

[nowhereman]

DOJO clocking in ahead of Pargo, Flynn..

[sefant77]

Flynn...KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHN

Instead of Rubio&Curry he went for Flynn...and picked at #17 Lawson for the Nuggets.

[nowhereman]

Crowder checks in at 339, same neighborhood as guys like Fesenko, Gomes, Donte Green

[nowhereman]

Dahntay Jones @ 301, ahead of DeShawn Stevenson, Terrence Ross, and others. If he's actually better than DeShawn was for us, that would be a heist.

[sbibi]

Originally Posted by nowhereman

Dahntay Jones @ 301, ahead of DeShawn Stevenson, Terrence Ross, and others. If he's actually better than DeShawn was for us, that would be a heist.

Yeah this guy can, hopefully will, definitely be huge for us. We have always needed a player of that type.

[nowhereman]

Brandan Wright at 212 - miles ahead of Haywood and Mahinmi (in the 250-260 range). Ahead of a good host of solid rollplayers as well.

[Rick41]

Rating players is silly IMO.

[DavidDaMonkey]

Originally Posted by Rick41

Rating players is silly IMO.

Boy, that must mean posting in a thread about rating players is REALLY silly.

[Rick41]

Originally Posted by DavidDaMonkey

Boy, that must mean posting in a thread about rating players is REALLY silly.

Where shall one express their feelings on the topic then?

[DavidDaMonkey]

Originally Posted by Rick41

Where shall one express their feelings on the topic then?

Sorry, I just had a brief case of the "giving you a hard time"s.

These lists are pretty meaningless, but it's a nice way to pass the time and see what others think of our players. I hope at the end someone tallies up each players score per team and see which team has the total highest rated players.

[nowhereman]

Yeah - I am putting almost no stock in any of these things. But the seasons still nearly two months away, so why the heck not mention things like 'a panel of "experts" considers Wright better than Haywood and Mahinmi' etc.

[adonis]

Predicting Dirk ends up #7, behind LeBron, Dwight, Wade, Kobe, Durant, Paul

[SMC0007]

If Dirk is lower than 10 I'm surprised.

[sefant77]

Originally Posted by adonis

Predicting Dirk ends up #7, behind LeBron, Dwight, Wade, Kobe, Durant, Paul

Wouldnt be surprised to see Westbrook and Love over him...the hype...

[BGMaverick9]

I could see Love (actually expecting that to happen and I don't have any major problems with it), but not really sure on Westbrook.

[Murphy3]

Love put up better numbers. I know who I'd take come playoff time, but people forget... quickly.

[BGMaverick9]

Originally Posted by Murphy3

Love put up better numbers. I know who I'd take come playoff time, but people forget... quickly.

I know who I'd take in the playoffs, too. I'm just not going to shortchange the value Love has as a developing stud. He is such a unique weapon on the basketball court. The debate about a year or so ago on who was the next big PF between Love and Griffin was laughable to me then and it's even more so now.

If Dirk is ahead of Love in the ranking, cool. If he's not, I won't be shocked.

[markus1234]

1.James
2.Dwight
3.Durant
4.Kobe
5.Wade
6.Paul
7.Rose
8.Love
9.Deron
10.Blake
11.Westbrook
12.Parker
13.Bosh
14.Aldridge
15.Pierce
16.Zach
17.Garnett
18.Melo
19.Rondo
20.Amare
21.Linsanity
99.Dirk

ESPN

Jokes aside. Dirk should be ahead of Paul. Wherever he might land...

[Scott McGuire]

This is pretty useless, but it is fun to talk about. Each "expert" gives a 1-10 rating for each player. With Dirk regressing some (because of injury and whatnot) I'm without a doubt certain people are going to be giving him 8s & 9s with almost no 10s. I predict he will finish more in the 8-15 range because someone like Love would elicit more 9s and possibly some 10s.

Whatever happens in the rankings will just be a reflection of only what can be judged right now (well more precisely right when they wrote in the number) and that's a whole lot of "what have you done for me lately".

I believe we have a much more optimistic outlook on Dirk's future performance than the average EPSN NBA analyst. This means I think we'll mostly bemoan that fact that he's outside the top 8 or so when it's revealed.

[Rick41]

Like I said, this stuff is silly but if I see Blake Griffin ahead of Dirk on anything, I'll personally start WWIII.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Originally Posted by Rick41

Like I said, this stuff is silly but if I see Blake Griffin ahead of Dirk on anything, I'll personally start WWIII.

At least Griffin has made the playoffs. Love's stats haven't garnered a playoff birth yet.

[Rick41]

Blake's team is better than Love's though.

Blake is highly overrated, take away his jumping abilities and he ain't sh!t.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Originally Posted by Rick41

Blake's team is better than Love's though.

Blake is highly overrated, take away his jumping abilities and he ain't sh!t.

Oh, I'm with ya on him being overrated brotha, and his amount of commercials is sickening.

[spreedom]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

At least Griffin has made the playoffs. Love's stats haven't garnered a playoff birth yet.

The Wolves were in the hunt until Rubio (who, as a rookie, was probably the best teammate Love has ever had) went down with the knee injury.

I don't think there's any comparison between Blake and Love.

[sefant77]

Love piles up his stats but he doesnt create all the open/easy shots for his team. He isnt this major factor for the entire team offense. Thats why Dirk is still better than Love. Thats why Dirk wins with average player 50+ games every year and Love doesnt sniff on the playoffs.

I hate the stupid argument "Love is better, here you can see with the PPG and RPG"

And yeah Blake is overrated as hell.

[SMC0007]

^ Steve Blake? Yea no kiddin!

[BGMaverick9]

Originally Posted by sefant77

Love piles up his stats but he doesnt create all the open/easy shots for his team. He isnt this major factor for the entire team offense. Thats why Dirk is still better than Love. Thats why Dirk wins with average player 50+ games every year and Love doesnt sniff on the playoffs.

I hate the stupid argument "Love is better, here you can see with the PPG and RPG"

And yeah Blake is overrated as hell.

The argument with PPG and RPG holds water when you point to the fact that the dude is getting better. That's a tremendous upswing he's shown over the first portion of his career.

I would say you're right in the sense he hasn't created a lot of opportunities for his teammates, but there are multiple angles you can go off of that. Rubio is the straw that stirs their drink when it comes to setting guys up. Outside of last year, the Wolves haven't exactly had the greatest players beside Love to where he could capitalize on situations. That's where I'd say the front office comes into play, when you want to compare him to Dirk. Yeah, there have been average players around Dirk, but I'd say Love, outside of maybe Brewer and definitely Al Jefferson, has had below average players around him (pre 2011).

He might not create opportunities for his teammates in that sense, but he certainly creates extra possessions for his team based on the fact he's an elite offensive rebounder.

[Bayliss]

Dirk just needs to get his @ss on the boards more often. That is where he has had a dropoff the last few years. I am hoping that is was because he played with perhaps the greatest rebounding PG ever. So Dirk just let Kidd grab the board and go.

Love (IMO) is like Shareef Abdur Rahim on steroids. Love rebounds better and scores slightly better. But it just doesn't translate to the wins. And his mentality is like a cross between Danny Fortson and Moses Malone. Malone would miss two or three gimme shots just to get a rebound and pad his stats, and Danny Fortson would bludgeon his own teammate to get a rebound. Love needs to understand that winning isn't all about your stats but your effect on the team. When he does that he would be good.

As for Griffin.... he better hope his never loses his athleticism because he is not very skilled on offense.

[Rick41]

The reason I think Dirk's numbers on the boards are dipping is solely the fact that he has very little to no lift left in his legs. Sure he can still jump a good vert here and there, but to be attacking the boards for 30+ mins a game is a bit too much to ask from him in 2012.

Even he admits he has terrible jumping abilities these days.

[markus1234]

There was a great analysis about how overrated Love's rebounds are and how underrated Dirk is in that area. Too bad i can't find it anymore



Bottom line, when it counts Dirk gets the rebound. Dirk also creates space for his teammates and makes rebounding easier. Love on the other hand just tries to grab the ball (long rebounds) and does not care about his teammates. Which is not always good. One should also not forget how bad MIN FG % is. There are simply much more opportunities to get a rebound on offense. Esp. if you play 39min.

Love needs to produce wins, not stats.

[Rick41]

Originally Posted by markus1234

Love on the other hand just tries to grab the ball and does not care about his teammates. Which is not always good.

Agreed.

I've seen many times where KLove gets 3-4 offensive rebounds on a single posession because he grabs one, flings the ball back up to the rim, misses that and grabs it again and so on.

[The Ghost of Championship]

Originally Posted by markus1234

I am already pissed about Dirk's ranking.

He got no respect in 2011 and now it will be even worse...probably top 15-20.

Honestly, with how this stuff works, Dirk will not get any respect between his declining body & this team.

Mavs are ranked 8th at best at this point. How high do you want them to rank an over the prime Dirk (although still highly effective aged but won't show it for a couple years).

[TNT]

Kidd, 157, wtf?

Thought his better...