ESPN NBA Rank 2018-19: 5 players they ranked too high

#5 Nikola Jokic

Brooklyn Nets v Denver Nuggets

Jokic is one of the hardest players to accurately rank, but I'm going to go ahead and say that ESPN definitely placed the wrong big man in their top 12.

We get it, people. No center in the history of the game has been the kind of true point guard that Jokic has routinely been for the Nuggets. He damn near averaged a triple-double for an entire month of the regular season, and he is about as skilled an offensive player as a big man at his size can get. We get all of that - Jokic is a true unicorn.

Unicorn or not, however, he's a putrid defender who is simply too slow to not be exploited during the playoffs, if the Nuggets manage to make it to that stage this year. Guarding the likes of Russell Westbrook and LeBron James on switches is not ideal for a center who, with all due respect, plays at a plodding pace at best.

Jokic is a plus defender for one of the worst defenses in the league. That does not say much, or indeed anything, at all, about his defense. LaMarcus Aldridge deserved to be ranked right there at that #12 spot, but that's a rant reserved for another time.