2 Reasons Herb Jones' placement on ESPN rankings is laughable

In the closing days of the offseason, NBA teams begin to ramp up their production ahead of season tip-off. Rotation players will get more minutes in the last preseason games, or they might get to rest to prepare for the long campaign ahead. The New Orleans Pelicans got both in their final preseason outing against the Houston Rockets.

While Brandon Ingram got his first run of the preseason, Zion Williamson sat out versus Houston to give his body time to prepare for the regular season grind. NBA teams aren't the only ones locking in, the media is starting to shift into full-time mode as well. The days of offseason slop are finally coming to an end, but ESPN has one last hurrah ahead of tip-off: their top 100 players list.

Player rankings are, of course, subjective, and overall a pretty flawed way to assess the real impact and effectiveness of these athletes. That said, they are great for engagement, positive and negative — although it's almost always mostly the latter.

ESPN released the first half of their top 100, numbers 100-51, and the initial outrage was unignorable but also warranted. There are issues all over the rankings, but ESPN listing Herb Jones at 97 was a glaring misstep, one that drew the immediate ire of NBA fans. Seeing two New Orleans Pelicans players in the top 100 was nice (CJ McCollum landed at 84) but Herb Jones barely cracking the list is indefensible.

2 reasons that Herb Jones at 97 is an absolute travesty

1. Obvious errors placed ahead of Herb Jones

Just saying that Herb Jones should be higher is easier said than done. The NBA is overflowing with talent these days, and it's not easy to compile a 100-deep ranking without any questionable placements. So, I'm going to put my money where my mouth is, and name just a few players who shouldn't be above Herb.

To keep it concise and fair, I'll only name those who have no argument here: Al Horford (96), Jalen Suggs (95), Keegan Murray (94), Brook Lopez (93), Jonas Valanciunas (91), Andrew Wiggins (90), Luguentz Dort (85). Keep in mind that these rankings are ESPN's projections for these players' performances in the upcoming season. Also, remember that this was not a full list of players that Herb could and should be ranked above, just the objective few from the first dozen players directly ahead of him.

In a vacuum, it could be said that Herb Jones should be as high as 56, as he could very easily wind up having a better season than ESPN's choice there, Dereck Lively II. He very well could outperform some of the players in the 50-1 group.

2. Defense was highly underappreciated in these rankings

Taking a look at some of the names listed ahead of Herb, including the ones I mentioned above, it's obvious that ESPN massively favors offense over defense. Jones was unquestionably one of the best defenders in the entire league last season. Michael Wright admitted it himself in the article:

"Maybe Jones should rank higher here, considering he's coming off a campaign in which he made the All-Defensive first team and finished fifth in Defensive Player of the Year voting."

Sure, it's arguable that players like Keegan Murray, Donte DiVincenzo (75), and Austin Reaves (72) could have more offensive impact than Jones next year — although it seems like ESPN's panel is completely writing off any potential growth from Jones in that department, even though he just took a huge shooting leap last season — but the difference will likely be marginal. The gap in those players' defensive impacts weighted against Herb's, though, isn't even comparable. It's clear that if ESPN truly valued defense accurately, Herb Jones should be much higher in these rankings.