In an effort to rank the quality of NBA players without putting an actual number on them — after all, who can truly separate the No. 36 player in the league from the No. 38? — The Athletic is undertaking an endeavor to create tiers for each player in the league.
Led by Seth Partnow, a group of reporters defined the top 125 players in the league grouped into five tiers. A player’s value over the last three years lands them into one of the categories.
Two Oklahoma City Thunder players ended up in the fifth tier. Guard Dennis Schroder and center Steven Adams were listed among the best 80-125 players in the league.
Over the last three years, Schroder has averaged 17.8 points, 4.7 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game while shooting 43.9% from the field and 34.2% from deep.
Adams, whose strong and consistent post presence is defined by more than just stats, has averaged 13 points, 9.3 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 1.0 blocks per game over the last three years.
While the bottom tier sounds like an insult, this fifth tier shows just how deep the NBA is.
Blake Griffin, who is only one year removed from an All-NBA team appearance, is there, as is Jerami Grant, who could make close to $20 million in free agency, depending on salary cap and luxury tax figures. His teammate Paul Millsap is in the tier too, as are Kevin Love, Al Horford and Andre Drummond.
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Partnow expanded on how the rankings were made in the methodology.
It appears that the basis comes from tiers that are slightly expanded. A graph shows the fifth tier as the 125-150 range, at which players are referred to as high-rotation pieces.
Ahead of them is the top starter/key reserve, which goes as deep as 75 players.
After the 2019-20 season, Schroder specifically feels like he should be part of the key reserve company, but this season was by far the best of his career and the previous two likely dropped his value to a spot just below that range.
The actual list that the Athletic put together players from No. 80-125 in the fifth tier, so it’s possible that Schroder is just barely out of the higher section.
Ahead of the top starter and key reserve section (41-75) on the graph is All-Star consideration, which is made of the 16th-40th best players in the league.
Ahead is All-NBA, a group of players one can expect to be a top-15 athlete and lead his team to the playoffs.
The top is franchise tier, which is made of the best five or so players in the league, the five a team can be confident will lead them to a championship against any other individual player.
A few other Thunder players are likely to be on the list somewhere. Danilo Gallinari is one of the better shooters in the league, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder in scoring, and Chris Paul was a Second Team All-NBA player last season.
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