The Top 20 Shooting Guards In The NBA Right Now

When I watched the video of Kevin Durant proclaiming James Harden should replace Dwyane Wade in Sports Illustrated‘s top 10 NBA players list, a few things processed through my head, in this order:

1. Sweet! This is exactly what the NBA needs: two of its biggest superstars having beef with each other, especially superstars who play on two of the league’s very best teams.
2. Wait, this is clearly fake, right? I mean, Wade and Durant did that awesome Gatorade commercial together last year, and Durant’s tone of voice doesn’t sound very convincing. This has to be some setup for another commercial or advertisement.
3. Well, even if it isn’t real, I think I agree with Durant. Wade’s getting older and Harden is really growing into a true superstar.

Regardless of whether Harden is truly better than Wade, it’s pretty clear that both are among the top three or four shooting guards in the entire league.

But what about the rest of the NBA’s off-guards? How do Joe Johnson and J.R. Smith stack up in comparison to the rest of the shooting guards? What about some of the younger players, like Dion Waiters and Bradley Beal?

That’s where I step in. As part of Dime Magazine‘s 2013-14 NBA season preview, here are the top 20 shooting guards in the league, according to me.

[RELATED: The Top 20 Point Guards In The NBA Right Now]
[RELATED: The Top 20 Centers In The NBA Right Now]
[RELATED: The Top 20 Power Forwards In The NBA Right Now]
[RELATED: The Top 20 Small Forwards In The NBA Right Now]

*** *** ***

20. ERIC GORDON
If Gordon could stay healthy, I would probably have him ranked significantly better than 19th among all shooting guards. He averaged over 22 points in 2010-11 as a Los Angeles Clipper, but since he joined the Hornets prior to the 2011-12 season, he has played only 50 games. He missed nearly the entirety of that first season in New Orleans due to a knee injury, and restrictions caused him to play in only 42 games during the 2012-13 season.

If Gordon can stay healthy and last a full season, then he could be a top-10 shooting guard. Until then, he’s just another guy unable to reach his full potential.

19. KEVIN MARTIN
That experiment where Kevin Martin was supposed to replace James Harden for the Thunder didn’t work out too well, did it? Martin lasted only one season with Oklahoma City and averaged just 14 points per game, his lowest since 2006.

Now — due to a three-team sign-and-trade — he’s in Minnesota, where his playing time and averages should both shoot back up to around where they were when Martin was with the Rockets.

18. DeMAR DeROZAN
Much like his teammate Rudy Gay, DeRozan is often slammed for being a ball-stopper, and an inefficient talent who doesn’t do much else besides score. That’s partly true. Toronto’s starting two-guard shot below 45 percent from the field in each of the past two years and is barely a threat from deep. But his all-around game is starting to develop. Last season, the 6-7 athlete saw his rebounds (3.9 per game) and assists (2.5) go up to career-highs while his turnovers (1.8) dropped slightly from 2011-12. He hasn’t made any monster strides since becoming a full-time starter three years ago. Then again, he’s still better than many other two guards, and averaged 18.1 points last year.

17. JIMMY BUTLER
Surprised? If you watched the Bulls over last season’s second half, you shouldn’t be. Kobe gave him dap. He gave LeBron problems. Butler is sort of like Chicago’s version of Kawhi Leonard, a guy who’s content being a role player and yet has the talent to stand out. Because of the presence of Luol Deng, Butler barely saw the floor during his rookie season in 2011-12. But last year, he finally started getting minutes, courtesy of his ruthless defense and an improved jump shot.

Now going into his third year, there are rumblings he could one day take Deng’s job, despite the fact that the two of them are better when they play together. In April, Butler averaged 14.6 points and 6.6 rebounds while shooting 56 percent from deep and guarding the other team’s best scorer for 40 minutes a night. Then in the playoffs, he put up similar numbers matched up against the best player in the world.

Butler played a lot of the three last season, but with Marco Belinelli gone, he should see more minutes next to Deng. Even if Kirk Hinrich starts at the two (he’s projected to come off the bench), with Butler in the second unit, we’re sure Chicago will have Butler in there at the two when it counts.

16. J.J. REDICK
J.J. Redick is in for a breakout season. After spending a miserable 2012-13 season with the Orlando Magic and Milwaukee Bucks, Redick was sent to the Clippers in a three-team trade during the offseason.

He’ll probably be a starter, assuming Jamal Crawford keeps his role as sixth man, and that type of playing time combined with playing in a Doc Rivers offense and alongside Chris Paul should result in quite the season for Redick.

15. IMAN SHUMPERT
Before realizing that my bias as a Knicks fan was getting in the way of my objectivity, I had Shumpert ranked eighth on this list. And, maybe even 15th is too generous, but I have watched pretty much every minute of professional basketball that this kid has played, and here’s what I’ve been able to witness:

– I’ve seen him harass the likes of Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade and Kyrie Irving. Shumpert is already a star on the defensive side of the ball.

– His offensive game is steadily improving. His three-point shot, which was pretty awful in 2012, has become a real threat. Shump shot 40 percent from beyond the arc in 2013.

– I watched every second of every Knicks’ playoff game in 2013, and he was easily one of their best players in both the Indiana series and the Boston series.

I truly believe that Iman is going to blossom into a star at some point, and it might even happen this season. If it does, the Knicks could provide a real threat to the Heat in the East.

14. MANU GINOBILI
Even after his atrocious showing in the NBA Finals and really most of the 2012-13 season, I had to rank Manu somewhere on this list. While I can’t figure out why the Spurs think he’s worth a two-year, $14 million contract at 36 years old, I also can’t get past just how gritty and tough this guy really is.

For as bad as he was in Games 2, 3, 4 and 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals, he showed up in a huge way in what was a must-win Game 5 for San Antonio, tallying a triple-double with 24 points and 10 assists. And, after going 4-of-19 from the field to begin Game 1 of the Western Conference Semis, he did hit the game-winning three in double-overtime to beat the Warriors. If he doesn’t do that and the Spurs lose Game 1, they probably don’t make it out of that series. So, there’s still something left in Manu’s tank.

T-13. DION WAITERS, BRADLEY BEAL
I grouped these guys together because their situations are pretty much identical. They had very similar statistics in their rookie seasons; they both play alongside young point guards that attract all of the attention, and they’re both on teams that were pretty bad last season but could be gearing up for turnaround years in 2013-14.

Waiters plays with Kyrie Irving, and his Cavaliers — who finished 24-58 last year — are widely being thrown around as the possible seventh or eighth seed in the East. Waiters’ averages in 2012-13 looked like this: 14.7 PPG, 3.0 APG, 2.4 RPG and 1.0 SPG.

Beal, meanwhile, is the Robin to John Wall‘s Batman, and his Washington Wizards are also expected to possibly be one of the last two Eastern Conference teams to make the postseason. Beal’s 2012-13 averages looked like this: 13.9 PPG, 2.4 APG, 3.8 RPG and 0.9 SPG.

Something tells me that these two young guards might be compared to each other for a long, long time.

12. O.J. MAYO
After a short-lived but strong one-year stint in Dallas (15.3 PPG), O.J. Mayo signed with the Milwaukee Bucks in July. And, with Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings out of town, the 25-year-old Mayo should be the team’s primary scoring option.

11. KLAY THOMPSON
As a result of sharing a backcourt with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson doesn’t get quite the recognition that he deserves. In his second NBA season, Thompson averaged nearly 17 points per game and shot 40 percent from three. His minutes might be slightly reduced in 2013-14 with the Warriors’ acquisition of Andre Iguodala, but look for Thompson to have another strong season.

10. MONTA ELLIS
It’s unfortunate, but it’s becoming more and more likely that Monta Ellis is going to be remembered as the prolific scorer who spent his entire career playing for mediocre teams. He has a career average of 19 points per game, and even averaged 25.5 per game in 2010 with the Warriors, but he has reached the second round of the playoffs only once. And with a Mavericks team that finished ninth in the West in 2013, it’s unlikely that Ellis will have a chance at playing deep into the 2014 Playoffs.

9. TYREKE EVANS
I can’t quite figure out Tyreke Evans. His scoring averages have steadily decreased each season since his rookie year, but he did have his most efficient season to date in 2012-13.

I keep expecting him to have that real breakthrough season where he becomes a legitimate star, but it didn’t happen in 2012 and it didn’t happen last year. Evans was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans (I know — I’m still getting used to calling them that, too) in July, so maybe a change of scenery could do the trick.

8. JAMAL CRAWFORD
At 33 years of age, Jamal Crawford is still doing it. As the sixth man for the Clippers last season, he averaged 16.5 points per game, marking the 11th consecutive year in which he averaged at least 14 points per game.

7. TONY ALLEN
Other than Andre Iguodala, is there any two-guard with defensive skills that even compare to those of Tony Allen? In fact, of all the guys in the league not named LeBron James or Dwight Howard, he’s probably the best defender.

Check out the statistics from some of the NBA’s best shooting guards against Tony Allen during the 2012-2013 season:

– Kobe Bryant (three games): 27.7 PPG, 28-of-69 from the field, 3-of-14 from three.
– James Harden (three games): 18.7 PPG, 16-of-40 from the field, 5-of-13 from three.
– Dwyane Wade (two games): 15 PPG, 12-of-31 from the field, 0-of-2 from the three.

6. J.R. SMITH
It might get lost in all of his off-the-court antics, but Smith is one of the league’s best shooting guards. His decision-making still needs plenty of work, but Smith had the best season of his career in 2013, averaging over 18 points per game (a career-high) and grabbing over five rebounds per game, another career-high. For his efforts, he won the league’s Sixth Man of the Year Award, and more of the same could be on the way in the 2013-14 campaign.

5. JOE JOHNSON
Based solely off of his 2012-13 season, it was difficult for me to rank Joe Johnson as a top-five shooting guard. He scored only 16.3 points per game (his lowest since 2004) and shot a mere 42 percent from the field (his lowest since 2003).

But, let’s not forget that prior to joining Brooklyn last offseason, Johnson had a seven-year stretch in Atlanta that saw him consistently average around 20 points per game and shoot close to 45 percent from the field. With a new head coach and presumably a new offensive system for the Nets this season, Johnson should have a bounce-back year.

4. ANDRE IGUODALA
Let’s get off track for a moment and talk about Carmelo Anthony (trust me, I’m going somewhere with this). Carmelo is, without any doubt, one of the league’s most talented offensive players. He’s just a scoring machine.

But, on the defensive side of the ball, there’s hardly anything impressive about Antony. He’s improved over the past few seasons, but he still goes through far too many lapses where he just isn’t committed enough. So, he’s among the very elite on one side of the ball and is sub-par on the other side of the ball.

That’s what brings me to Andre Iguodala. He has a career average of 15 points per game; he’s a pretty efficient scorer, and he’s an underrated passer, but his offensive game isn’t what makes him a great player.

Instead, it’s his defense that caused me to rank him so highly on this list. He can cover every position on the floor except center, he’s one of the best in the league at preventing the three-pointer, and he consistently averages close to two steals per game.

And now, with Iguodala joining a Warriors team that was 19th in points allowed during the 2012-13 season, it’s his defense that I expect to make Golden State a top-three team in the West.

Now, let’s quickly go back to Carmelo. Like I said, he’s great on one side of the ball and not-so-great on the other side, but it’s widely agreed upon that he’s a top-10 player in the league. Iguodala, meanwhile, is excellent on one side of the ball and still pretty good on the other side, yet very few consider him an elite player. Translation: it’s time to change our definition of what a great player is, because Andre Iguodala certainly is one.

3. DWYANE WADE
If anyone seriously believed that Dwyane Wade’s career as an elite player was coming to an end, he responded with two huge performances in the 2013 NBA Finals that really saved the Miami Heat.

With Miami trailing 2-1 to the Spurs entering Game 4, Wade put forth one of his best games of the season. He scored 32 points, grabbed six rebounds, dished out four assists, and tallied six (SIX!) steals to help the Heat even the series. And then, in the deciding Game 7, he put together only his third double-double of the postseason, scoring 23 points and recording 10 assists. His per-game numbers continue to drop, but look closer and he looks almost as good as ever: 52 percent shooting and a 24.0 PER (according to Basketball-reference.com).

2. JAMES HARDEN
James Harden’s first season in Houston was quite the success. As the only star on the team, he had career-highs in pretty much every statistical category — points per game, assists per game, rebounds per game, and steals per game. He was named to his the first All-Star Game of his career, and most importantly, he led the Rockets to the postseason.

In a nutshell, last season was his breakout year. He was great in Oklahoma City, but Harden established himself as a true superstar during his first season in Houston. And at age 24, he’s only entering the very beginning of his prime. Wade might’ve gotten pissed when KD said Harden is the better player (and the Dime office is basically split down the line on this one), but for now, considering the role each player has on his team, Harden’s game should only expand while Wade will continue to hand control to LeBron.

1. KOBE BRYANT
Is it just me, or was Kobe’s 2012-13 season one of the most impressive of his entire career? In spite of so many factors that were stacked against him, such as Mike D’Antoni being completely inept, Dwight Howard never really wanting to be there, and all of the injuries that the Lakers dealt with, Kobe was as good as he’s ever been. He averaged 27.3 points per game, tied his career-high in assists per game, and willed Los Angeles to victory after victory in the second half of the season, putting the team in prime position to make the playoffs before tearing his Achilles.

If nothing else, it was a reminder to the rest of the league that he’s still the best shooting guard in the world, and one of the absolute elite players in the NBA. I don’t know when Kobe will make his return this season, but I won’t be betting against him, whenever it does happen.

What do you think of this list?

Follow Michael on Twitter at @michaelburke47.

Follow Dime on Twitter at @DimeMag.

Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook HERE.

×