The Top 20 Small Forwards In The NBA Today

Do positions even matter anymore? They feel arbitrary. Shooting guards and small forwards should be wings or swingmen. Power forwards and centers should just be bigs. Most of the time, those are the terms people within the sport use. But for fans and the media, having specific one through five positions help to make sense of it all.

That’s how the NBA made news earlier this week when they said they were getting rid of the center spot on the All-Star ballet. The game perhaps isn’t changing, but people believe it is. As for the small forward spot, it’s home to some of the best individual talent in the league, and probably the two best players.

As part of our five-part series we’re running this week, we’re counting down the top 20 players in the NBA at each position. Today, I’m running through the 20 best small forwards in the world. I think you can guess the top three, but after that, there are some surprises…

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The Top 20 Point Guards In The NBA Today
The Top 20 Shooting Guards In The NBA Today
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20. CARON BUTLER, Los Angeles Clippers
I nearly threw Chase Budinger in here, but he played just 22 minutes a night last year, and rang up solid advanced statistics going against second teamers and backups. Then, I nearly threw Michael Beasley in here because he has top-ten talent, and during a brief period in Minnesota, he looked like he’d eventually develop into a great sixth man who could come in off the bench and provide big scoring numbers on a playoff team. But he’s also terribly inefficient, doesn’t do much else besides score, and really, who knows what he’s going to give on a night-to-night basis? Metta World Peace is in shape, but he’s crazy. Trevor Ariza isn’t who we thought he was. Derrick Williams has been a bust so far. And Shane Battier played well for all of like 10 games last year.

Butler’s time in the NBA will be over soon, but the 6-7 swingman can still give you 12 points a night while shooting the long ball at a decent clip (1.5 a game last year at around 36 percent). Last season, his PER dropped all the way to 11.75, and playing with Chris Paul caused his usage rate to drop nearly 20 percent. You can argue he’s now just the third-best small forward on the Clippers roster, but come opening night, he’s probably still going to start.

19. TAYSHAUN PRINCE, Detroit Pistons
Prince has had a weird career. Through his rookie season in 2002-03, he rarely played, and then took center stage when he shut down the game’s top scorer (Tracy McGrady) in the playoffs. From there, Prince was incredible for a few years as a shutdown defender, using his outrageous wingspan to play an extra step off, which helped him make up for his lack of quickness.

But once Detroit’s title-contending teams started to fall off, so did Prince, and now he’s an inefficient role player on a bad team in a terrible situation.

Incredibly, per 100 possessions, the Pistons were actually 7.4 points worse with Prince in the game in 2011-12. Was it a lack of effort? A drop in athleticism? You can place the blame on a number of different areas, but more than likely, it had more to do with the Pistons as a group than anything else. They were dysfunctional, a complete mess. I wouldn’t necessarily blame Prince for that (especially when you look at his career history). It feels fluky.

What isn’t a fluke is his shooting. Among small forwards who played 30 games last year while averaging at least 25 minutes a night, Prince was dead last in true shooting percentage (47.1), way below the league average. He doesn’t make triples. He never really did. He doesn’t get to the free thow line, drawing fouls on just 5.2 percent of all his shot attempts. And last season, his shooting percentage, which had been higher than 47 percent over the last two seasons, dropped to a career-low 42 percent.

18. MICHAEL KIDD-GILCHRIST, Charlotte Bobcats
He’s only a rookie who has never played in a real NBA game before, but I’m inclined to believe MKG will change at least one thing in Charlotte this year: he’ll get fans excited.

What he brings is intensity, and Charlotte needs a lot of it. Last year, the most intense person was sitting on the sidelines (Paul Silas). Kidd-Gilchrist won’t make triples, and I think he’ll struggle to break down NBA-level defenses off the bounce. Yet he’s always found ways to be effective.

I remember watching him in high school when he was a junior. Playing on the same team as Kyrie Irving, there were many taking Michael Gilchrist (as he was known at the time) as the best player in high school basketball, regardless of class. He wasn’t all that impressive: his jumper was super flat, he was a solid athlete but didn’t stand out, and he looked like he was near his peak as a player.

But he ended up scoring more than I anticipated, rebounding more than I anticipated, and he’s been doing that ever since. I think he’ll be the same way in the NBA.

17. JARED DUDLEY, Phoenix Suns
In order to get the most out of Dudley, he needs help. He needs a guard to get him the ball in his shooting pockets, and a defense that’ll back him up when he’s taking on the challenge of a high-scoring swingman. Basically, if you want the best from Dudley, put him on a good team. His destiny is as a role player on a great team, perhaps the four or fifth option. In Phoenix last year, even though it was probably the best year of his career – starting full-time, scoring nearly 13 points a night and having a major impact on the team’s offense – the Suns were average.

This year without Steve Nash, they’ll be even worse, although it’s hard to say the offense won’t at least be decent (last year they were still tied for eighth in offensive efficiency). Dudley played three different positions, and was pretty successful at all of them (although defensively, he was AWFUL at the four, giving up a PER of 31.1). He’ll continue to make shots, continue to draw fouls at a pretty high rate for someone with no game off the dribble whatsoever, and people will continue to overlook him.

16. WILSON CHANDLER, Denver Nuggets
During last year’s lockout, Chandler was one of the few who took the bait and ended up playing in China. Luckily for him, he was able to get out of the contract in time to at least contribute something to the Nuggets down the stretch and in the playoffs. It wasn’t much.

Chandler was virtually non-existant in the playoffs, scoring just 4.8 points a night through five postseason games. But even during the final weeks of the regular season, he wasn’t much help either, finishing with a single-digit PER and a true shooting percentage of 44.5, well below the league average and completely pathetic for a swingman who normally shoots it pretty well.

Considering he only played in eight regular season games with the Nuggets, and also that Denver sports what’ll likely be one of the top three offenses in the league this year, I highly doubt Chandler falters again. After being traded from New York to Denver during the 2010-11 season, he averaged 12.5 points a night, and made nearly two triples a game. While his PER was still below average (11.66) that year, it was better than his disastrous finish in 2012. Chandler isn’t as good as his talent suggests, but you can do worse.

15. GRANT HILL, Los Angeles Clippers
The 40-year-old Hill is currently out, nursing bone bruises in his right knee. But the Clippers didn’t bring him in to be insurance. They expect him to play and contribute. Hill is saying the same thing. He might be well into perhaps his third or fourth life as an NBA player, but the wheels haven’t fallen off yet.

Last season was actually his first year in Phoenix where there was a noticeable drop in production. His scoring (10.2 a night), rebounding (3.5) and shooting (45, 26 and 76 percent) took hits across the board. But Hill still had a positive effect on both sides of the ball, per BasketballValue. Even at his advanced age, he’s a solid defender who regularly gets tested by matching up with many of the game’s top scorers.

Now in Los Angeles, he’ll likely come off the bench behind Caron Butler – even if I say here I still believe he’s a better player – and will battle with Matt Barnes for playing time. During the preseason, Barnes has been lights out, and now has the love of Chris Paul. That could complicate things. Hill hardly saw any minutes last season at the four, but luckily, Barnes is more than capable of sliding down for some backup spot duty as a stretch power forward.

14. SHAWN MARION, Dallas Mavericks
Without Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas may struggle to stay within reach of the West’s top playoff teams for the season’s opening weeks. They’re incorporating an entirely new backcourt, as well as Chris Kaman and Elton Brand. The one constant will be Shawn Marion, the former All-Star who’s found a way to hang on despite evaporating athleticism. Remember when he was a 25-year-old beast who filled up box scores, finished fast breaks and had probably the quickest second jump of any player in the league? We figured by this point – he’s now 34 years old and hasn’t been the same since being traded from Phoenix in 2007-08 – he’d have nothing left to rely on. No consistent jump shot. No game off the dribble. A sliding defender without the speed and quickness to make up for mistakes.

Marion put up 10.6 points and 7.4 rebounds a night last year, and was imperative to a lot of the Mavs’ defensive schemes. In fact, during their playoff loss to Oklahoma City, the defense completely fell off without him on the court, according to BasketballValue. Nowadays, Marion isn’t needed as a primary scorer, but he’s still a valuable contributor to a playoff team.

13. ANDREI KIRILENKO, Minnesota Timberwolves
While I wrote earlier that Utah is one of the big winners from the Kevin Love injury, Kirilenko might be the biggest winner of all. Coming off a great season in Europe where he won the Euroleague MVP and was selected to the All-Euroleague First Team with CSKA Moscow, and a fantastic showing in the Olympics, AK-47 now gets to ride this wave of momentum in Minnesota, where he’ll be one of the team’s featured players throughout the first few weeks of the season.

During his final years in Utah, Kirilenko struggled. Whereas he once looked like a franchise cornerstone, a move further out on the perimeter turned him into just another decent player, someone who could get you 12 and five, but wasn’t going to make a difference in wins.

Now with the T’Wolves, he’s in direct competition with Derrick Williams for minutes, and once Love does return, he’ll be forced to play on the perimeter again. It won’t help him reach the near All-Star status he once had (expecting anything close to that is too much), but he still shoots it well-above average for a starting-caliber small forward (56.8 true shooting percentage in his last year with Utah), and is a very underrated creator.

I once took Kirilenko with a first-round pick in a fantasy draft. He was that versatile, that balanced. He’s no longer that kind of player, but he’ll be an upgrade for Minnesota this year.

12. KAWHI LEONARD, San Antonio Spurs
High? Perhaps. But I’m making the assumption that Gregg Popovich is pretty smart. I’m following his lead, and he thinks Leonard could someday be the face of the franchise. In the meantime, moderate improvement (at worst) should be expected in Leonard’s second season, and if I had a choice between Leonard, and players like AK-47, Chandler and Marion for the upcoming year, I’m going with the youngster every time.

Popovich kept the rookie under wraps for most of the season, playing him just 24 minutes a night during the regular season. Leonard, a 6-7 wing who plays more like he’s 7-feet because of his enormous wingspan and his absolutely gigantic hands, was still amazingly productive and consistent. Then in the playoffs, when most rookies wilt, the former San Diego State star actually improved on his shooting, hitting 50 percent from the field, and 45 and 81 respectively from beyond the arc and the free throw line.

Leonard is already one of the top five rebounding small forwards, and almost never turns it over (a turnover rate of 9.04). With added responsibility, that’ll likely increase, but it’s unavoidable, and shouldn’t be a hindrance because he does everything else so well.

Leonard isn’t just GOING to be great. He’s already pretty damn good, even at 21 years old. In fact, I might’ve even rated him too low. By this point next year, there’s a good chance he’ll be near the top five.

11. NICOLAS BATUM, Portland Trail Blazers
After a crazy bidding war between Minnesota and Portland this summer for his services, Batum is owed more than $46 million through 2016 on his current deal. That seems like a lot of money for a cat who wasn’t even a full-time starter last year while averaging 13.9 points a night (and a guy who also has issues with punching people in the nuts). But in reality, it’s slightly more than an average-level contract for a starter, and that’s what Batum is. I don’t think he’ll ever reach the potential some tabbed him with early in his career, but that has more to do with unreachable expectations than some fault of the Frenchman’s.

Among small forwards who played at least 25 minutes a night last year, he’s pretty average, finishing just outside of the elite group in many advanced categories. Yes, he could stand to improve his ballhandling, where he’s one of the worst passers among starting small forwards in the league, finishing with a lower assist rate than every starter outside of Danny Granger and Caron Butler. But overall, Batum is a solid player, a rangy forward who can make shots, defend and score in transition. You can win with him.

10. GERALD WALLACE, Brooklyn Nets
Crash is a conundrum of sorts for Brooklyn. They basically traded last year’s No. 6 pick (turned into Damian Lillard) for him, and then gave the now 30-year-old a four-year deal for $40 million this summer. In a sense, they had to. You can’t trade a valuable asset (a lottery pick) for 16 games of Gerald Wallace, and then let him walk, especially when you’re trying to please a partially new fanbase in Brooklyn as well as your starting point guard and franchise savior, Deron Williams.

So now they have a starting forward they’ll be paying $10 million a year until he’s 33 years old who can’t really shoot, relies almost entirely on his somewhat diminishing athleticism, has been traded twice in the past two seasons and has seen his numbers drop everywhere he’s been since the 2009-10 season with Charlotte.

That’s looking at the glass half empty. Take a different stance, as many new Brooklyn fans are sure to do, and Crash actually brings a lot to the table for the Nets. Let’s start with the obvious: he plays hard every night and is a great example as a pro for a lot of their young players. Brook Lopez has been criticized for being lazy. Kris Humphries still catches heat for being selfish. And MarShon Brooks struggles when you ask him to do anything outside of shoot. Wallace is a pinball, a forward who can defend wings, score over big men in the paint and grab rebounds at a terrific rate for someone who’s barely 6-7 and doesn’t have the hops he used to. If you have Gerald Wallace on your team, you can at least be thankful that he’ll give a shit.

This manifests itself most on defense, where his constant energy and ruggedness can help cover up many holes. Wallace isn’t a stopper in the traditional sense of the word, but he’s a valuable asset, one who made a monster defensive difference whenever he was in the game for both Portland and New Jersey last year.

That’ll be extra important now that the Nets fancy themselves a contender. According to ESPN’s John Hollinger, New Jersey was No. 27 in total rebounding rate last year, and where I’d normally blame Brook Lopez for this, he only played five games last season. It’s more than just a one-man problem. Then, there’s that defense, which was worse than everyone outside of Charlotte, and they don’t really count anyway.

Wallace only played in 16 games for New Jersey last year, and his defensive numbers, along with his playing time, were virtually identical to what he was doing with Portland. His rebounding did slightly increase – from 10.7 to 11.1 in total rebounding rate – but with so many free misses, it almost had to. He’s still a nuisance defensively, even if he’s no longer what he once was. But in Brooklyn, he must be even better.

Offensively, asking Wallace to be any type of creator or shotmaker isn’t going to work. He’s not someone you want spotting up for perimeter shots, even if he made a good deal of them with the Nets last year. It was only 16 games. He’s also not a great ballhandler. Thankfully, Brooklyn should have the goods this year to allow Crash to live up to his nickname and do what he does best.

9. LUOL DENG, Chicago Bulls
Recently in Smack, we asked Luol Deng to pick it up. No Derrick Rose. No prolific bench. They’re all gone, at least for the time being. Deng somehow made the All-Star Game last year despite the lockout-shortened season being one of his worst years with the Bulls. His scoring dipped. He shot 41 percent from the floor, and had his lowest true shooting percentage of the last five years (even as he shot the three-pointer better than ever before). And among all Chicago regulars, he had the worst negative impact on the team during the playoffs, according to BasketballValue.com. It wasn’t even close. Deng wasn’t exactly playing in the negative during the entire regular season, but the Bulls weren’t actually better with him on the floor, either.

Once upon a time, Deng was a key piece in potential trades involving Kobe Bryant, and even though he never reached the heights many pegged him for, he’s still a very solid player who’s at his best playing next to someone like Derrick Rose. That could help explain Deng’s troubles last year. Rose missed 27 games with various injuries in 2011-12, but the previous year, he had won a league MVP and played all but one game. That certainly helped Deng, who shot the ball much better during that season. He can go one-on-one at times and get a shot, but the former Dukie is at his best when he has someone else creating and setting the table for him. Once there, the majority of his best offensive moves come off one dribble.

With Rose out for most, if not all of this year, that heaps a barrage of questions on the Bulls. Can they survive with Kirk Hinrich and Nate Robinson running the show? Is the defense still good enough to carry them? Will Carlos Boozer continue to single-handedly keep Black Ice in business? And finally, does Deng have enough in the tank to bump his scoring average while also bumping his efficiency? He needs to, or else the Bulls will finish with a No. 7 or 8 seed. They’re still good enough to make the playoffs without Rose, but even if he does return, if they fall to one of those lower seeds, it’ll set them up on a date with Miami, or possibly Indiana or Boston. Currently, even with Rose back at hopefully somewhat close to 100 percent, they don’t have enough.

Individually, Deng has his own questions to answer.

8. DANILO GALLINARI, Denver Nuggets
You wouldn’t believe it, but Gallinari’s game is actually somewhat well-rounded. Of course, offensively, he makes shots from everywhere, and draws fouls on over 15 percent of his shots, a MASSIVE number for a perimeter player who’s not considered an elite scorer (that number actually jumps to nearly 20 percent during crunch time). His playmaking also exploded last year in Denver, as his assist rate nearly doubled to 18.53. He can thank George Karl‘s sped-up offense for that; half of Gallinari’s dimes were at the rim, which is where Denver lived all year.

I said “somewhat” well-rounded because while the man can do pretty much everything, he’s not elite in anything, not even shooting. Once touted by Mike D’Antoni as the best shooter the coach had ever seen, I think it’s safe to now put those claims to bed. Gallinari’s never even shot 45 percent from the floor, and his three-point percentage dropped below 33 last year, a career-low. His true shooting percentage was just 56.3, another career-low. For comparison’s sake, Steve Nash‘s number rested at 62.5.

Considering he’s playing in what’s probably the best offense in the league, and within a system that leads to a lot of open shots, this doesn’t totally make sense. But even as he’s struggled to live up to expectations on his jumper, he’s been better than expected off the bounce, where he’s become solid at getting to the rim off of two dribbles from the three-point line.

Gallinari played just 31 minutes a night last year, and now that Karl also has Andre Iguodala, and Wilson Chandler for a full season, Gallo’s overall numbers should take a slight hit.

But compared to Deng, statistically, Gallinari is much more important to his team. We know Deng is a great defender, but in Tom Thibodeau‘s system, his presence has virtually no effect on the team’s overall defensive output. They’re stingy with him or without. But Gallinari… take him out of Denver’s lineup and the Nuggets give up nearly seven points more per 100 possessions. No one will ever consider him a great one-on-one stopper – he’s somewhat slow laterally, and isn’t the most physically imposing player – but he knows how to use his 6-10 frame to contest shots.

Offensively, it’s much of the same. Chicago is actually better without Deng on the court while Gallinari provides Denver with a slight boost. And while most look at Gallo as simply a shooter, he’s actually slightly better off the dribble and creating for others than Deng is. As rebounders, they are virtually identical.

Gallinari doesn’t have the rep of Luol Deng, who’s gotten to that point where he’s been called underrated for so long that he’s now probably overrated. But in the end, he’s a better overall player.

7. DANNY GRANGER, Indiana Pacers
Granger is not the Pacers most important player. Roy Hibbert is, and it showed during the playoffs against Miami when the Pacers looked like a completely different team when he wasn’t in the game. But throughout the overall season, it was Granger that mattered most to Indiana. His numbers have taken a dive over the years as his team has gotten better – his usage rate has dropped in four straight seasons – but the 6-7 Granger is still a dangerous weapon for one of the Eastern Conference’s most dangerous teams.

It’s interesting. In just a few years, Granger went from being the most underappreciated fantasy player in the NBA to one of the most underappreciated very good players on a very good team. Hibbert is constantly talked about in NBA circles because he a legitimate center, and does a lot of weird shit. Paul George gets hyped by nearly everyone, including us, because he’s a 6-10 slinky of athleticism that improves almost every month. Even David West is more fun to talk about, mainly because he seems like such a badass (not too many players can say they’ve punched out a mascot before).

In the end, I doubt Granger cares (unless it gets to the point where they decide to trade him because they have to pay George). Nowadays, the Pacers don’t ask him to do as much off the dribble. He rarely handles the ball, and his assist numbers are downright anemic. His game, which once included rim attacks here and there, is almost exclusively on the perimeter now. Jump shots make up 79 percent of his shot attempts and an incredible 61 percent of those shots are assisted. It’s ironic that he’s in Indiana, where the team once attempted to win a title with a shooter as their top offensive scorer. Did they learn their lesson? I think so. For one, Granger is not Reggie Miller. He’s been unable to raise his game when it’s mattered most, so they were never going to win going that route anyways. But the emergence of Hibbert, as well as the possibility that George reaches that level soon, took some of the reigns away from Granger. Because of that, the team is more balanced, better able to withstand playoff droughts, and the 29-year-old Granger should ultimately be able to last longer in this role.

But still, he’s a better than advertised defender, and seemed to get under Miami’s skin at times during the playoffs last year. Perhaps more than anything else, that’s what Indiana needs. They remind me in ways of the Memphis Grizzlies, who are trying to physically outfight everyone else in the race to NBA riches. The Pacers seem to be trying to do the same thing, except they have a bunch of nice guys besides Mr. West.

For now, Granger does most of his production outside of the limelight. It’ll stay that way, unless Indiana pulls an upset in the playoffs.

6. RUDY GAY, Memphis Grizzlies
Last summer, coming off his devastating shoulder injury in 2011 that kept him out of Memphis’ miraculous postseason run, I spent a day with Rudy Gay at his childhood home in Dundalk, Maryland. At that point, the Grizzlies were fully healthy and primed to make a push for a Western Conference title. They had lost Game 7 in Oklahoma City in the 2011 Playoffs in large part because they had no one who could create a shot under duress. That’s Gay’s specialty. He’s a 6-8 athlete that can rise up for a look virtually anywhere on the floor, and while he doesn’t excel in any one thing offensively, he does everything well. That makes him a dangerous weapon, especially late in close games, because he can score off the dribble at the rim, or if you cut him off, he can pull up for a fadeaway that’s virtually unblockable (even for LeBron).

At the time, it truly felt Gay was ready to make the All-Star team. Before getting hurt, he was having the best season of his career, shooting it like he never had before while finally learning how to set up his teammates. Memphis looked unstoppable in the final few weeks before Gay was lost for the year.

Hanging at his old childhood stomping grounds, we talked at length about what was next. Critics were saying Memphis was better off without Gay, fueled by the way the Grizz took off without him in the playoffs. When he returned last season and failed to deliver the team to the next level, his star dimmed. Now, he’s a 26-year-old still strapped with the “potential” label, and no one is quite sure whether he’s worth the $53.7 million he’s still owed over the next three seasons (he has a player option in the final year of the deal, but at nearly $20 million, you’d have to give him Charlie Sheen‘s drugs to get him to decline that). The Grizzlies aren’t sure either. Do you pay top dollar for a team that will probably lose in the first round? Because that’s what’s going to happen unless Gay takes another step.

For the UConn product, it all starts with his efficiency. For someone who has every shot in the book – unreal athleticism, length to finish inside, a nice touch, and one of the meanest pull-up jumpers in the league as well as range well past the three-point arc – Gay’s offensive efficiency is terrible. Below average, in fact. His true shooting percentage last year was only 52.1 percent, well below the league average (53.3) for small forwards who played at least 20 minutes a night. That’s been a problem for him throughout his career, and it really doesn’t make sense considering all of the skills he has. Carmelo Anthony took heat all summer for taking too many ill-advised shots, and yet even ‘Melo was more efficient.

Last season, some of that had to do with his inability to hit threes – he shot only 31 percent from deep after hitting almost 40 percent during the 2011 season before his shoulder injury. How much of that was rust? I’m not sure. But between that drop, and his free throw rate, it’s easy to see where the problems lie.

At the base of it all is Gay needs to do a better job of drawing fouls and getting to the line. Per 48 minutes last year, he averaged only 5.2 free throws, drawing fouls on less than 10 percent of his field goal attempts. Those were the worst numbers among the top six small forwards on this list. In fact, only Andre Iguodala‘s numbers were even close, and yet he still drew fouls at a higher rate. What that means is Gay, even with all of that athleticism, strength and length, couldn’t get easy points at the line, and for some reason, also lost his touch from the perimeter. Thus, he had to get the lion’s share of his points off everything in-between. Over the course of a season, that’s not something you want out of your best perimeter scorer.

He could stand to improve his ballhandling and passing as well, but Gay first needs to redirect the emphasis in his individual offensive game.

5. ANDRE IGUODALA, Denver Nuggets
Yes, I know he’ll be playing a lot of shooting guard this year next to Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler in Denver. But Iggy has always been a pure small forward, a point forward who can run an offense for weeks on end, but struggles if you put him in a triple-threat position 22 feet from the rim and say, “Go get us a bucket.”

While at first glance it might seem that Iggy’s scoring numbers could drop even further in Denver now that he has a couple of legit scoring options beside him, his fantasy owners should be excited. Last season, Iguodala scored just 2.8 points a game close to the rim, garbage numbers for one of the most athletic swingmen in the league. Too often, he had to play out along the three-point line, setting up pseudo point guards like Jrue Holiday and Lou Williams. As we’ve written before, no one attacks the paint like Denver. No one. And George Karl will let his guys loose unlike ever before. I expect Iguodala’s close-range scoring numbers to double as he’ll spend more time cutting off the ball, attacking off screen-n-rolls and flying up the court in transition with Ty Lawson. Look for his overall scoring average to go from last season’s 12.4 (the fifth-straight year it had dropped) up towards 15 or 16.

At this point in his career, we know exactly who Iguodala is, and while Denver doesn’t have a go-to offensive option, a legit All-Star, or even an anointed leader, a fresh start should rejuvenate Iggy. He spent too many years masquerading as a No. 1 option in Philly, and thankfully at 28 (he’ll turn 29 in January), he’s found a place on a team that will use him in the same ways Team USA did.

Still, if he wants to vault into the top four on this list, there’s one specific part of his skill set that he must improve on. A below-average three-point shooter, Iguodala somehow managed to hit nearly 40 percent from beyond the arc last season, a number that’ll surely revert back towards the mean (career 33 percent) this year. He’ll never cause anyone’s heart to stop when he sets up for an open triple, but he proved he can make the shot. We all know about his ability as a finisher. It’s everywhere else as a scorer that he struggles. From 16-23 feet, he made just 31 percent of his shots, which was a lower percentage out of everyone other than Shawn Marion and Nic Batum among small forwards who played at least 30 minutes a night.

That pinnacled in Philly’s second round loss to Boston when Iggy hit just 5-of-26 from the midrange area in the series.

The midrange game is what separates the best players in the league. It’s more than just a complementary shot that you can go to if your other options are cut off. In tight playoff games, when smart defenses are driving shooters off the three-point line and clogging the lane, it’s often the only shot available. If you can’t score off the dribble without getting all the way to rim, then you’re in trouble, and in six career playoff series, Iguodala’s shooting percentage (barely 40 percent) and his scoring average (13.8) are well below his career numbers (and if you take away a GREAT 2009 First Round series against Orlando, the numbers get even more dreary).

In Denver, at worst, he’s still one of the league’s best defenders and a top-level small forward. At least for the next two years (he has an early termination option in 2013-2014 that he’ll probably decline), I expect Iguodala to push for All-Star selections.

4. PAUL PIERCE, Boston Celtics
It’s hard rating the Truth above Iguodala even though the new Nugget is a much better creator, miraculously shot a higher percentage from both the field and from behind the arc last year, and is quite obviously a superior defender. But for me, it comes down to a couple points. One, Pierce is still capable of being THE guy on a championship contender for perhaps a game, or even a quarter. He still has it in him as one of the craftiest players I’ve ever seen, and probably the most underrated one-on-one shotmaker in a long time. Iguodala has never been able to do that, and will never be that type of player. And two, I think it’s rather obvious that he’s more important to his team (Boston) than Iguodala is to his (whether we’re talking Denver or Philly).

Last season, whenever Pierce was off the floor, the Celtics turned into one of the worst offensive teams in the league. As it is, they were just 24th in the league in offensive efficiency, but when their best – really, their only – one-on-one scorer ventured to the bench, they fell off. Per 100 possessions, Pierce made a different of 7.8 points on the offensive end, which is actually a bigger difference than what Iguodala provided for Philadelphia on defense.

At the base of the argument between the two, it comes down to what you want out of your small forward. Do you want a guy who is capable of winning a game for you in the final moments, or acting as a run-stopper with repeated doses of big buckets? Or do you want one of the best complementary players in the league, someone who can make an impact in a sped-up game by getting out in transition or even in a slow-down game by locking down every wing player he goes against?

Pierce and Iguodala actually matched up in the second round of the playoffs last season, and the results were typical interesting.

The Truth struggled offensively with Iggy on the court and often checking him, averaging 15 points per 36 minutes on just 39 percent from the floor. Some of that had to do with the pathetic offense played by both teams in that series (we had to stop watching a couple of those games), and yet, Pierce was much better without Iguodala around to hound him, a sign of defense triumphing over offense in a league where typical the opposite is true. But during the regular season, Pierce actually shot 55 percent against Iguodala, repeatedly getting to spots for shots within the midrange area. More than likely in the playoffs, Pierce was just caught in a funk that had everyone on both teams shooting like Eric Snow.

In the end, I still view Pierce as a No. 1 option and one of the few players that can stand up to LeBron James and give him a workout on both ends. Iguodala, while he’s definitely valuable because much of what he does can’t be duplicated, can’t do that.

3. CARMELO ANTHONY, New York Knicks
At some point since coming to New York, it became commonplace to criticize ‘Melo. A contemporary of LeBron’s, when James reached the next level without Anthony, it somehow turned us against one of the best one-on-one players of the modern era. Carmelo has his faults, and they probably start somewhere with his complete lack of understanding his surroundings. Anthony drove out Mike D’Antoni and his offense because he didn’t agree with it. No one bothered to tell him the system played to his strengths perfectly, and as ESPN The Magazine stated earlier in the fall, it’s where he’s had his most success.

Instead, Anthony reportedly made his own bed by helping to usher out Jeremy Lin (or at least somewhat encouraging it), and involving himself in a number of other team transactions. Now he must sleep in it. The Knicks are not a championship team, especially with a bench bordering on calcification, and a secondary star (Amar’e Stoudemire) who can’t stay healthy and no longer plays like a surefire All-Star. At best, they can win one round in the playoffs, and in order to do that, Anthony must have the best season of his career.

But as his career has worn on, Anthony’s game hasn’t improved the way we thought it would, and it’s obvious he needs others to adjust to him rather than the other way around. With Team USA, LeBron and Kobe Bryant can put him in his place, so to speak, and turn him into what he should be doing all along: destroying people with spot-up shooting, and quick one dribble attack moves. But last season, just 38 percent of his baskets were assisted. Kobe Bryant, a notoriously hard-charging isolation player, was at 44 percent, and Kevin Durant‘s percentage of baskets assisted was all the way up at 48. There’s no way that should happen, especially when considering how automatic ‘Melo is as a spot-up shooter from 20 feet and in. Out of the top 20 scorers in the NBA last season, only two had a worse true shooting percentage: Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings (who now somehow have to make it work as a part of the same backcourt in Milwaukee).

Less contested jump shots, and more rim attacks, where ‘Melo’s full-body strength makes him a foul-drawing magnet, as well as an underrated offensive rebounder, could get him back up to 26-28 points a night. Of course, this likely only happens if he starts playing more power forward full time, which will be difficult to do once Stoudemire returns from injury. But either way, he needs to play inside more often.

Really though, more than anything else, Anthony just needs to decide what he wants out of his career. He’s at a crossroads that doesn’t come from a weak shooting percentage or a penchant for ball-stopping and not trying on defense. He must win. He must defend. He must stop pouting, and more than anything else, he must lead. He’s surrounded by over-the-hill veterans who have the experience to lead, but no longer the game to back it up. As a player, it’s impossible to galvanize from the bench. You can only support. Then, the rest of the roster is full of players with no real direction, and no career map, let alone the knowledge to figure out which way to go. If Anthony doesn’t make it past this crossroads, he’ll never reach the level of stardom he sees for himself. Perhaps the past year was a wakeup call for him. We’ll find out soon enough.

2. KEVIN DURANT, Oklahoma City Thunder
It feels like Durant is on the verge of something, but what it is, we’re not entirely sure yet. Will it be a run of scoring titles unlike anything we’ve seen since Michael Jordan was scalping defender’s heads and talking an insane amount of shit while he was at it? Will it be a rounding out of his game that takes him beyond perhaps the most efficient scorer in the world (Sixty-one percent true shooting percentage last season, and no one ahead of him had a usage rate above 22.67. KD’s was 31.32.) to someone who can average 10-plus rebounds for a week, or spend a month warding off double-teams by becoming an improved playmaker (just for your information, Andre Iguodala’s assist rate more than tripled KD’s)? He’s improved in that regard every season of his career despite never really taking a major step forward. Or will it be his desire overwhelming him so much that he meets the challenge (LeBron) head on and overcomes it?

Let’s face it. It’s hard to imagine the Thunder winning a title as long as the current situations in both OKC and South Beach remains the same. Why? You win with your best players, but if your best player also happens to play the same spot as another guy who’s unquestionably better, then you have a problem. Russell Westbrook can do his mini-Jordan thing all he wants to (check Game 4 of the Finals) and it won’t matter. In fact, check Westbrook’s numbers in the Finals last year: 27 points, 6.4 boards and 6.6 assists a night. Of course, OKC lost four straight to Miami more because they couldn’t contain the Heat’s small-ball lineup, and because James Harden lost his game somewhere in his beard, but you get my point. Durant needs to either take another giant step, or they must hope Miami falls off due to injuries, ego or something entirely unforeseen.

As for Durant, he’s the best pure scorer in the league, and as Grantland recently pointed out, he has a great chance to secure a 50/40/90 season this year. For a player of his stature to do that – a first option who will routinely get doubled – is incredible, and speaks more to his unblockable jump shot (just three percent of his shot attempts were rejected last year) than anything else.

Amazingly, even though everyone talks about LeBron playing the four, if OKC continues the NBA trend by playing smaller this year (and they should… they’re a better team that way), then Durant stands to profit more than anyone. Look at this man’s per 48-minute numbers last year as a power forward: 39.7 points, 11.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists.

1. LeBRON JAMES, Miami Heat
At this point, it’s not a question about whether LeBron is the best player in the world, but whether he’s playing at a level that’s unprecedented in the modern game. We already know Miami’s leader has a chance to eclipse Michael Jordan one day as the all-time leader in career PER. But what about just this past season?

According to Basketball-Reference, James finished 2012 with a PER of 30.74, which is the tenth-best mark in NBA history over a single season (amazingly, he’s had two seasons that were even better). Only two names have had better numbers: Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain. But what made LeBron’s season truly special was how he picked up steam as it wore on. Universally known for faltering in tight situations, he was solid against New York, dispatching perhaps his biggest individual rival in rather unglamorous terms. And then, after three subpar games to start the second round against Indiana, he reeled off 13 consecutive playoff games where he never scored less than 28 points. That streak finally ended in Games 4 and 5 against OKC in the Finals, but that didn’t really matter considering LeBron had a combined 25 dimes in those season-ending wins (By the way, Indiana, Boston and OKC were all in the top 10 in defensive efficiency, and the Celtics were .2 away from leading the entire NBA).

Everyone knows the story by now. The Heat started employing small ball full-time, and moved LeBron to a sort of power forward guard, flanking him with three, and sometimes four knockdown shooters (the Chalmers, Wade, Battier, James and Bosh playoff unit played by far the most minutes among five-man groups for the Heat). It obviously worked, and had the Thunder scrambling throughout the Finals to find a way to defend it. Naturally, the calls are for the best player on the planet to do that full time. Of Miami’s five-best lineups during the playoffs, three of them featured James as a four.

It’s too bad LeBron doesn’t really want to do it all the time. And why should he? Part of what makes the lineup so devastating is that it isn’t a full-time look. He’s not banging underneath the rim for 48 minutes in 82 games a year. It comes in spurts, and for a team like Miami that thrives off quick bursts and defensive turnovers, it’s perfect. LeBron also might be better as a face-up four, where his rebounding numbers and his free throw rate skyrocketed. But he’s still much better defensively as a small forward (holding opponents there to just a 10.6 PER compared to 14.8 at the four)

As for LeBron’s actual skills – his shooting, his ballhandling, his defense – we’ve gone over them enough. All you need to know is he’s by far the best player in the world (leading everyone by healthy margins in PER, Value Added, Estimated Wins Added, and of course, MVP votes). It’s not even close.

Do you agree?

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