With the NBA season inching closer and closer each day websites are getting ready to start producing season previews for the upcoming season. As part of those previews almost everyone these days does some kind of NBA player ranking which ranges from the every player in the NBA, #NBARank from ESPN or the Elite 100 and SI.com’s Top 100 from the Eye on Basketball blog and SI.com. Yesterday both NBA Rank and the SI.com Top 100 started and in both lists released were multiple members of the New Orleans Pelicans. So how did the Pelicans end up? Let’s take a look:
NBA Rank:
NBA Rank started yesterday with the ranking of the bottom 100 players in the NBA. For ESPN Rank voters were asked to rank players based on the quality AND quantity of play that can be expected from them this coming season. For New Orleans three players landed in the bottom 100 of the rankings, though all of them finished in the top 410 of the voting.
Rookie Russ Smith came in lowest in the voting for New Orleans at 409 with an average vote of just 2.34. It makes sense that Smith finished last as he is the one player on the roster with the toughest climb to a rotation spot with the Pelicans having two of their top six players able to play point guard in Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans. Smith also has to pass former lottery pick Austin Rivers to get minutes and at this point it is more likely doesn’t get a lot of run this season.
Luke Babbitt was the lowest ranked veteran for the Pelicans at 403 with an average vote of just 2.38. Babbitt is a man without a position right now for New Orleans as he won’t play power forward with Ryan Anderson back healthy and Anthony Davis starting there and has shown that he isn’t cut out for playing small forward in the NBA due to athleticism issues. In all honesty Babbitt may not even make the roster this coming season as he has an non-guaranteed contract so this is probably a good spot for him.
Finally undrafted rookie Patric Young rounded out the list by coming in at 401 with an average rank of 2.42. Young played well during summer league for the Pelicans but he will have to earn his minutes this season by beating out both Jeff Withey and Alexis Ajinca for minutes at the backup center spot. It seems more likely that Young only plays a very small number of minutes this year but it could be a nod towards the quality people thing he will give when he does play.
SI.com Top 100:
SI released their rankings of players 100-51 yesterday and three members of the Pelicans made the cut. The rankings, done by Ben Golliver and Rob Mahoney rank players based on removing players from team settings, not projecting for the future and irregardless of contracts so it is a tough assignment. The Pelicans that showed up yesterday in the list were:
Tyreke Evans at 84. Evans, who played very well at the end of last year, is a tough player to rank on lists like these thanks to his skill set and Mahoney admits that in his capsule. He is talented though and a spot on the list is well deserved.
Omer Asik came in at number 64 thanks in large part to his elite defense and rebounding. Asik is an elite defensive player and rim protector thanks to his size and uncanny anticipation and with big man defense being such an important part of today’s game he is very well deserving of his spot.
Finally Ryan Anderson checked in at number 59 after his awful injury shortened year. It is a nod towards Anderson for his elite shooting abilities normally only seen in guards that with Anderson are found in the body of a power forward. A healthy Anderson is going to be a huge weapon for the Pelicans this season.
The only other Pelican mentioned in the SI rankings so far came in the honorable mention section. Eric Gordon landed there based on really just being average but the capsule from Golliver really showed how far Gordon has fallen as it made it clear Gordon didn’t really ever come close to actually landing in the top 100.
Both lists will continue to expand over the next few days and the two biggest Pelicans related questions are still active. First where does Jrue Holiday fall on both lists after a season cut short by a freak injury to his leg? Holiday is a very good player but will people remember it or take a more wait and see approach to how he responds to the serious injury?
Also, how high up does Anthony Davis land? Davis is quickly coming for a top 10 spot in the league at just 21 years old. Do the rankings thing he gets there this year or just stays on the outside? Only time will tell.