JWoo's Updated SLN Top 100 Tiers
Posted: September 2nd, 2024, 1:10 pm
Well, this project has taken me a long fucking time to update and finish (I started it last season and just never locked in to finalize it) but here's an updated Top 100 list with tiers. Tried to get this done before the playoffs so the rankings wouldn't be influenced by additional recency bias.
As a reminder - here's how I kind of evaluate the tiers. Other rules to remember — I never rank rookies just as a rule of thumb (this was a rule we had with the SI Top 100 list I used to write every year) — and this is super subjective just off of stats, player pedigree and my own box score watching as the season goes on. I don't think there's too much of my own bias in here, but it's unavoidable at a certain point because it's my list, lol. I do factor in team success a bit into how I view players, as well as their track record (not trying to leap to judgments off one season). I have tiers within each tier that don't necessarily mean a ton but do help to delineate a bit.
This is also not a trade value ranking and doesn't factor in contracts. And as always, if you try to use this list against me in any trade negotiations we might have, you are dead to me!!!
TIER 5: Situational Starters and Elite Role Players
These are guys who would find a home and contribute to winning in some form as a top rotation player, if not a starter, on most teams. This is probably the hardest tier to put together and is the most subjective by far, just because the a talent curve flattens out. But the idea is all these guys would have a case for minutes on any team (although maybe you can argue that some point guards might not be worthy of backup combo guard duty)
TIER 4: Top-flight Starters
Tier 4 is made up of players I think would have a very strong case to start on most teams (or be a heavily featured sixth man) for one reason or another. There are some good players with annoying flaws in this tier like CP3/PG etc. The guys who are one-way players here can generally shoulder a good amount of volume efficiently. But I think the guys in this group would be universally deployed in big roles.
TIER 3: Proven Stars
This tier is full of elite, proven performers who would likely start anywhere. These players will in most cases strongly define how their teams want to play. For the most part there's some type of minor weakness holding these guys back from being in the next tier, but that's not really a knock or anything.
TIER 2: Superstars
These guys are among the best players in the league, who have proven capable of turning in All-SLN level seasons pretty much every year. Everyone would be happy to have these guys and I think it's fair to say that they all drive winning. I'd argue that these are the best all-around guys in the league, but are not quite at Tier 1 level.
TIER 1: You probably need one of these guys to win a title
In my opinion these are the 10 current best players in the league, and the odds are probably that you need one on your roster to win the title. (Notice there are no Raptors in this tier, I can't be that biased!!!)
Here's the list with a tiny bit of analysis for each player (love that I can just embed the sheet directly now).
Hope this is a good point for healthy debate (I tried to be as objective as possible) but would love people's takes/thoughts. Gonna try to make some more anniversary-specific content in the next couple weeks. Enjoy and good luck to all in the playoffs.
As a reminder - here's how I kind of evaluate the tiers. Other rules to remember — I never rank rookies just as a rule of thumb (this was a rule we had with the SI Top 100 list I used to write every year) — and this is super subjective just off of stats, player pedigree and my own box score watching as the season goes on. I don't think there's too much of my own bias in here, but it's unavoidable at a certain point because it's my list, lol. I do factor in team success a bit into how I view players, as well as their track record (not trying to leap to judgments off one season). I have tiers within each tier that don't necessarily mean a ton but do help to delineate a bit.
This is also not a trade value ranking and doesn't factor in contracts. And as always, if you try to use this list against me in any trade negotiations we might have, you are dead to me!!!
TIER 5: Situational Starters and Elite Role Players
These are guys who would find a home and contribute to winning in some form as a top rotation player, if not a starter, on most teams. This is probably the hardest tier to put together and is the most subjective by far, just because the a talent curve flattens out. But the idea is all these guys would have a case for minutes on any team (although maybe you can argue that some point guards might not be worthy of backup combo guard duty)
TIER 4: Top-flight Starters
Tier 4 is made up of players I think would have a very strong case to start on most teams (or be a heavily featured sixth man) for one reason or another. There are some good players with annoying flaws in this tier like CP3/PG etc. The guys who are one-way players here can generally shoulder a good amount of volume efficiently. But I think the guys in this group would be universally deployed in big roles.
TIER 3: Proven Stars
This tier is full of elite, proven performers who would likely start anywhere. These players will in most cases strongly define how their teams want to play. For the most part there's some type of minor weakness holding these guys back from being in the next tier, but that's not really a knock or anything.
TIER 2: Superstars
These guys are among the best players in the league, who have proven capable of turning in All-SLN level seasons pretty much every year. Everyone would be happy to have these guys and I think it's fair to say that they all drive winning. I'd argue that these are the best all-around guys in the league, but are not quite at Tier 1 level.
TIER 1: You probably need one of these guys to win a title
In my opinion these are the 10 current best players in the league, and the odds are probably that you need one on your roster to win the title. (Notice there are no Raptors in this tier, I can't be that biased!!!)
Here's the list with a tiny bit of analysis for each player (love that I can just embed the sheet directly now).
Hope this is a good point for healthy debate (I tried to be as objective as possible) but would love people's takes/thoughts. Gonna try to make some more anniversary-specific content in the next couple weeks. Enjoy and good luck to all in the playoffs.