ESPN NBA rank: 5 Players they ranked too low

ESPN's preseason player rankings for the 2018-19 season were released, and as with most of their publications, they drew a lot of flak for making some poor selections. As with their rankings every year, there are obvious double standards which they failed to identify when their writers pose arguments for why specific players are at specific spots on their top players' lists.

The entirety of the list resembles a hastily hashed-together collection of seemingly prophetic words which are eminently liable to be proved inaccurate. The copious misuse of specific stats to estimate players' overall impact on their teams' seasons is an even bigger turn-off.

While time will definitely flesh out these flawed chains of reasoning, there are some flaws which are obvious right at the outset if one bothered to truly introspect the list. Let's take a look at 5 players they have underrated going into the season:

#1 Kevin Durant

I usually don't get worked up about narratives, on-court impact, advanced stats and efficiency stats - but I'll say this: seeing Kevin Durant ranked below Steph Curry and James Harden and just about tied with Giannis Antetokounmpo as the 4th best player in the NBA got me really riled up.

Not only is Kevin Durant a more reliable defender than any of these 3 players, one could make the case that he is the best pure scorer since Michael Jordan and not be called out on it.

Steph makes Golden State tick, Giannis is all of the Bucks' hopes and Harden is the reigning MVP, but a player ranking should be about what one player, in a vacuum, can provide to any team.

Durant is the most well-rounded player of them all, and it's not like his strengths are any worse than the strengths of the other players mentioned. He's the single most unstoppable scorer in the league today, bar none - not even LeBron is free of the occasional bad shooting game in the playoffs. This is a 7-footer who can shoot over everyone but can also cross up anyone on the way to the hoop while swatting their shots mercilessly at the other end.

I would say the case for Durant as the second best player on the planet has been further solidified since his move to Golden State. Placing him any lower than that spot is nothing but an attempt to give lip service to new European fans (because of the Giannis bandwagon) and a rather unsolicited attempt to undermine the importance of individual defence.

#2 Anthony Davis

Golden State Warriors v New Orleans Pelicans - Game Three

I'd like readers to ponder upon the answers to the following two questions:

(a) Who's the best player at the 4 spot in the NBA?

(b) Who's the best player at the 5 spot in the NBA?

Chances are, the unibrowed, Pelicans-jerseyed player pictured right above this is your answer to both the questions. Indeed, I fully expect NBA GMs to have answered both questions as Anthony Davis in the GM survey that will be made public in a few days.

Anthony Davis is essentially a Tim Duncan on steroids who can also make plays facing up his man on the regular. This is no hyperbole - if AD were to replace Steph and Kevin Durant together on the Warriors as of today, their dynasty will be set for about a decade to come.

Davis' elite defensive ability (he can truly guard all of the 1-5 spots), his multifaceted offensive skill, dominant rebounding and transition ability mark him out as the single most unstoppable player in the league not named LeBron James or Kevin Durant. In my mind, he is the 3rd best player on the planet, but I'll still allow somebody to slide him down up until the #5 spot if they value Steph and Harden's playmaking ability that much.

#6 below Giannis, however? That smacks of incompetence from ESPN.

#3 Jimmy Butler

Placing Jimmy Butler out of the top 10 definitely took some weird mental gymnastics from the ESPN crew. For one thing, players in contract years do not shrivel up below their peak form even if they are looking for trades like Butler is. For another, Butler is quite literally the only reason why the Wolves made the playoffs last year, and the Bulls did for 2 seasons before that.

Butler is one of the top 5 wings on the planet. Choosing between him and Paul George is a bit of a tough ask, but the duo, KD, the Klaw and LeBron are undoubtedly the most impactful wings in the NBA.

Placing more one-dimensional players like Jokic and Lillard ahead of Butler is plain disrespect to the do-it-all wing. He is as good a scorer as the duo when he needs to be, as good a playmaker nearly all the time even though he doesn't hoard the ball all the time and ten times the defender either of the duo is.

His playmaking is what puts him ahead of George in my eye, though we are yet to see how well he meshes with another elite playmaker on his team.

#4 Kyrie Irving

Okay, this one was probably the most baffling of all their predictions/rankings, whatever ESPN wishes to characterize their list as. The basis they cited for Kyrie's #20 ranking overall was that he only averages 63 games played over 7 years of his career.

For one thing, if you're arguing that, you are basically eliminating Steph or Joel Embiid from any kind of contention at the #2 or the #9 spots on your list. Both players appeared in fewer games than Kyrie did last season, and have an injury history that makes them much more susceptible to repeated absences from action.

For another, Kyrie has only really had 2 major injury absences in his whole career, and the Cavs eased him into action whenever he got injured in his first 3 seasons as they needed to tank in order to assemble more lottery talent around him.

Now, in no way, form or manner is he an inferior talent to Damian Lillard, and he's arguably a better defender than either him or Steph - as he demonstrated through last season. He is liable to get killed by screens like the duo, but his instincts, reach and agility are superior to the other two players.

I'm not suggesting Steph to drop out of the top 10. But I do firmly believe that Irving is a more valuable player than Lillard (as proved by the percentages), and if one of these two has to be placed above CP3 (another injury-prone player who was still ranked quite high), it should be the Celtic and not the TrailBlazer.

Kyrie is the single most unguardable point guard in the league - period. Averages of 27.4 ppg and 29.4 ppg in Finals series against Golden State should be ample proof of this.

#5 LaMarcus Aldridge

LaMarcus Aldridge is easily the most disrespected franchise player in the entirety of the NBA. So little regard does the mainstream media have for his true worth, really, that he's often not even referred to as the franchise cornerstone that he's proven himself to be consistently over the years.

The Spurs were the #3 team in the West for more than half of the season and eventually finished with a 47-35 record because they were being CARRIED by the beast in the low post.

A LaMarcus Aldridge game is about as predictable as they come, and just about as unstoppable. His footwork in the post allows him to be the league's top post player, and he is absolutely butter from mid-range in an era when defences are willing to give up those shots in order to defend 3-pointers.

Having started off as a defensive liability, Aldridge has been a plus defender ever since signing for the Spurs in 2015. After underperforming for two seasons, Aldridge was deservingly named to the All-NBA Second Team last year. He's a top 15 player in the league and should be respected as such.