Poll: TSN Top 50 Players List--Mavs Fans Rate the List

[MavKikiNYC]

TSN Top 50 NBA Players


How accurate do you think TSN Top 50 Players List is?

Vote on a scale of -5 (strongly disagree with the overall rankings) to 5 (strongly agreee with overall rankings), 0 (neutral, have no opinion about the list). To vote, click the graph icon on the upper righthand corner of this message, just to the left of the print icon.

Then post your comments here--tell what you thought was the most accurate aspect of the overall list, or comment on what you thought was its greatest weakness.

[MavKikiNYC]

We asked one general manager or personnel man from each team to rank the league's top players based on current ability -- not potential or past performance -- and O'Neal came up No. 1 on 15 of the 18 ballots received.

Some questions about the methodology.

They only got 18 responses, and they don't identify from which clubs these responses came. That could influence the rankings if teams from one conference responded more than teams in the other. For example, GMs could be more familiar with the players they face on a more regular basis.

Also, when was this ranking survey performed? If it were performed early in the season, how reliable is it as a measure of current ability? And why is it a measure of ability and not performance? (How much ability do Grant Hill and Terrell Brandon have right now anyway?)

It would've been more interesting and more informative for TSN to've published the point totals to give a clearer indication of how players' relative abilities are ranked.

As for the Mavs mentioned, Finley's ranking seems the closest to what I would've expected it to--6th best SG (5th if you count Iverson as a PG).

The poll has Dirk listed as a SF even though it seems to be getting clearer that his position is going to be PF. No real problem with him being rated below Duncan, Garnett, and Webber, but it would be interesting to know how closely their respective abilities are ranked. Dirk's performance this season has him equal to if not above Webber, in my opinion.

The results with Nash are the most problematic. I have to think that this survey was conducted earlier in the season before some of Nash's strong performances this year. Stockton is one of my all-time favorite players, but there's no way he's above Nash this year. And Steve Francis? Baron Davis? No, thanks. Again, it would've been interesting to see how closely these guys were ranked overall--if the difference were slight, the results would be easier to just say 'hmmm' about; if the difference were great, then we'd all just laugh. Which is why I suspect the totals weren't published.

The survey gives a few kind of interesting very big-picture conclusions and not much else--nothing that we didn't know already. No real reason to take it very seriously.

Rate: -2 overall.

[TheKid]

I'll give it about a 3. I don't have any major problems with the rankings other than Nash! The guy in my opinion is one of the top three point guards in the league so to say he's 36 overall is very in accurate IMO. There are other players I would probably interchange, but all in all, I think for the most part it wasn't anything that was just outrageous other than the Nash thing and maybe Stockton being rated so high too. However I think it was average.

[MavKikiNYC]

Thanks, Kid. Interesting take.

Mind going back and registering your ranking on the poll?

To vote, click the Graph icon up in the right hand corner of your this message window, probably just to the left of your print icon.

[MavKikiNYC]

Okay. The more I look at this list, the worse it looks.

Sprewell rated above Jermaine O'Neal? Above Steve Nash? Above Sczerbiak?

Above Allan Houston? That's criminal. It should be easy to see the anomaly of this result. Houston and Sprewell play on the same team, and while Houston has carried the Knicks since JVG's departure and since Camby's injury, Sprewell has been in a near season-long funk, with some of the most wretched performances of his career.

I'd now give the poll a rating of -3.