Nba Top 40 Rank
The 29-year-old Anthony Davis has been a two-way presence since being the first pick back in 2012. Sadly, injuries have impacted the NBA champion big time over the past two seasons with Ant missing 72 games during that span. This drops him down a bit in our latest rankings of the best NBA players.
Nba Top 40 Rank
To be snubbed is one thing, but there's always a more fiery debate about who isn't ranked high enough -- or the dreaded "underrated" tag. Our list rolls on with players ranked 40th through 11th, commemorating the extraordinary players who arguably played key roles in defining their respective eras.
1948-49 (BAA), 1949-54, 1956 Minneapolis Lakers23.1 PPG, 13.4 RPG, 2.8 APG
No player presents a greater challenge in all-time rankings than Mikan, who reigned over an embryonic league with a style of play that would soon be outdated. Towering over opponents, Mikan spurred the creation of a goaltending rule and the expansion of the paint to limit his advantages. Yet Mikan remained a force, leading Minneapolis to six championships in seven seasons across three leagues (the NBL, the BAA and finally the NBA). Despite playing before the schedule expanded to 82 games, Mikan still owns three of the top 12 seasons ever by Basketball-Reference.com win shares estimates.-- Kevin Pelton
1995-2007, 2015-16 Minnesota Timberwolves; 2007-13 Boston Celtics; 2013-15 Brooklyn Nets17.8 PPG, 10.0 RPG, 3.7 APG, 1.3 SPG, 1.4 BPG
The former MVP and Defensive Player of the Year didn't find much success in the playoffs during his run with Minnesota, but he finally became an NBA champion after going to Boston to form a Big Three with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen in 2007-08. Garnett, who is tied for second in NBA history after playing 21 seasons in the league, ranks in the top 20 in career blocks and steals and is also 10th in career rebounds.-- Lopez
The fact that Kevin Garnett ranks higher than Magic Johnson is completely absurd. I have no issues with Kevin Garnett ranking in the Top 10.. but above Magic Johnson? God damn, you must have a very convincing argument to make.
I recently heard the argument that Bradley Beal and John Wall are better players than Manu. They give the argument that Beal and Wall would look great under Popovich and Manu has been mostly a 6th man during his career. How do you rank these three?
Thanks for the awesome series!May I make a small suggestion: Since you have an overall performance score for each player for every season (in the form of Title Odds on Random Team), it would be nice to compile an MVP ranking (maybe top 3 or top 5) for each season. This way we can see the rise and fall of these elite players relative to each other over their career.
Of course, everyone wants to know if LeBron James has surpassed Michael Jordan, but those aren't the only tough decisions we had to make. Is Lakers legend Kobe Bryant a top-10 player ever? Where do the current greats like Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant rank?
Somehow, he is still ranked third in the list of players with the most three-pointers made in the NBA ever. He was also a player for the big occasion, regularly nailing high-pressure shots to snap victory from the jaws of defeat.
Overall, he was a defensive dream to play with and his stats back that up. For instance, he is seventh on the list of players with the most blocks made in the history of the NBA. He also ranks in the top 25 for rebounds.
Karl Malone won two NBA MVP awards at a time when some of the greatest players in the history of the league were playing. He ranks second in all-time scoring, 7th in rebounds and 11th in steals overall for the league, which proves his consistency over his career.
When you were down and you needed to score in a big game, you gave the ball to Michael and he did the rest. MJ has the NBA records for career regular season scoring average (30.12 points per game) and career playoff scoring average (33.45 points per game). He even ranks third in the league for steals, with a total of 2,514.
While we look into every team ahead of the 2021-22 season -- catch up on all of our team previews here -- naturally, we need to forecast the players, too. So here it is: Our CBS Sports Top 100 player rankings for the 2021-22 season. Taking the cumulative results of our seven writers' individual rankings, this is a look ahead to how these players are expected to perform in the upcoming season. It is not based on last year's production.
This means rookies are eligible, and indeed No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham made our top 100. In fact, he cracked our top 75. With that in mind, let's get to the list. (For a closer position-by-position look, CBS Sports also breaks down its top 15 rankings for point guards, big men and wings.)
As per usual, the list was prepared by a panel of ten NBA staff members. Writer Gilbert McGregor explains the ranking process with contributors assigning 30 points for first place, 29 for second place, and continuing in descending order until they reach the 30th player who received a single point.
College football rankings are surfacing in preseason form this month ahead of fall camp and the start of the 2022 season, the latest power poll arriving via Phil Steele, one of the industry's veterans and leaders in accuracy for early prognostications.
As Steele notes in his robust college football preview, the preseason top 40 poll is based on how he feels teams will finish in the final rankings. Over the past nine seasons, Steele writes, 86.2% of programs listed in his preseason rankings have reached bowl eligibility.
In our own post-spring rankings, six of our national analysts submitted way-too-early top 25 ballot and those were tabulated to form a power ranking of sorts heading into summer. With the start of practice a few weeks away, we'll update that soon once position battles are decided and two-deeps are established.
Tennessee was one of several SEC teams behind the 'Big 3' of Alabama, Georgia and Texas A&M ranked in our own top 25 preseason rankings, but the Volunteers landed just shy in preferred billing in Steele's version. ... BYU is a team capable of making a run as a New Year's Six darkhorse, given the Cougars' schedule with several opportunities against quality Power Five competition, including Oregon. ... Cincinnati became the first Group of Five program to reach the playoff last season, but the Bearcats replace nine NFL Draft picks and haven't been slotted as a final four threat by most this time around.
Wake Forest's wide receiver group might be the ACC's best and multi-year starter Sam Hartman at quarterback is criminally-underrated from a national standpoint. After nearly winning the conference last season, there's some unfinished business to attend to in Winston-Salem for the Demon Deacons. ... UAB? This is the first major surprise inside Steele's top 25. Veteran coach Bill Clark's unexpected retirement effective Aug. 1 likely changes things for the Blazers, who welcome back the bulk of a talented, championship-caliber team. ... After acquiring several instant-impact transfers, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian has some media members believing Texas will have a chance to compete for a Big 12 championship coming off a 5-7 disaster. Is it possible? Sure, as long as Quinn Ewers is a difference-making quarterback and the rest of the star-studded cast performs. Texas hosts Alabama early, so we'll know if this preseason ranking holds water. ... UCF is the highest-ranked Group of Five team in Steele's preseason poll and he believes Gus Malzahn's squad has a chance to get to the New Year's Six.
The Cowboys have a shot to win the Big 12 Conference and are part of a four-team mix with a crack at a championship season, along with Texas, Baylor and Oklahoma, according to Steele. Oklahoma State cracked the top 15 of our initial way-too-early rankings, but opinions on the Cowboys were not unanimous and that ranking changed considerably in our post-spring update. Oklahoma State was left off three ballots entirely and was ranked inside the top 20 on the other two, pushing the Cowboys to No. 25 despite reaching the league title game last fall.
Steele has a ton of respect for Baylor and coach Dave Aranda, who he says is one of the nation's fastest-rising leaders. The Big 12 race is a tough nut to crack at the moment given the handful of teams all within a couple spots of one another. Baylor gets the benefit of the doubt here as the league's reigning champs because the schedule is treacherous and projecting another plus-12 showing in turnover margin would yield the utmost optimism. That being said, only one Big 12 team was ranked ahead of Aranda's Bears this summer in our own way-too-early rankings.
Could the Wolfpack win their first ACC football championship under Doeren? Steele believes it's a possibility. N.C. State came in at No. 8 in our preseason rankings update after one voter pushed Dave Doeren's squad all the way to No. 4 given the number of returning playmakers. Much of that offseason steam surrounding the program comes thanks to quarterback Devin Leary, who nuked opposing defense to the tune of 35 touchdown passes last fall. Two games that we're keeping an eye on that will heavily impact the Wolfpack's value as a preseason title contender are Clemson and Wake Forest. Win those and N.C. State could run the table.
It's time to start believing in Miami under Mario Cristobal. Now that we haven't, but the Hurricanes were the "first team out" in our post-spring top 25 rankings, a poll that's sure to change heading into fall given this program's summer buzz. Cristobal has landed several elite prospects for the 2023 class and beyond this month and appears to be building a monster in the ACC. With quarterback Tyler Van Dyke this fall, Miami could challenge Clemson, Pittsburgh and N.C. State for the conference crown, Steele says. Miami's talent level is impressive for a team with a first-year coach.
Steele's not as high on these preseason darlings as some analysts this season, including our own, but he still ranks Texas A&M inside of his top 10. Sound familiar for the Aggies? Texas A&M was in a similar spotlight this time last year, but failed to live up to lofty expectations from outsiders during the regular season. This team has an extremely high ceiling and how many of these five-star true freshmen get their feet wet as dependable options in Year 1 under Jimbo Fisher will be vital to this squad's success. It's an all-time signing class that could pay immediate dividends. 041b061a72