What is crack a lac if fellow thermal nuclear A efforts. I am Dan
Valley, coming at you as always with my certified fantabulous Thermo Nuclear af co
host, mister Grant Hughes esquire. We are coming at you with the third
installment of our positional rankings. Yes, positions, are they irrelevant? YadA,
YadA YadA. This was a fun exercise for US post trade deadline.
So we have our top ten small forwards. Go check out point guards and
shooting guards. Power forwards and centers are coming. This will be probably published
over the course of like two weeks. I say, I don't know how
I'm gonna distribute it, but go check out point guards and shooting guards and
now you can check out small forwards and then power forwards and centers are going
to come. How exciting is that? Grant? How are you doing?
I'm doing great. I am concerned about the chaos that may ensue as we
do small forward because that's a tricky position, but good content. Right if
we disagree or we have wonky lists, I think that's a positive. Just
a fair and warning. I'm updating the on screen for anyone's watching. It's
gonna take me longer than normally get the names out for small forwards, because
I have these looped into blocks of players in the two, three, and
four, and like that's where this list is going to be populated from.
So I have way too many tabs open, and at this point, like
you might have a point guard on here. That's my point. So it's
gonna take me a little while to find the names and paste it on,
but we will be talking about it. Who is your number one? I
honestly have no idea. I don't know this is gonna go. Who's your
number one small forward? So my number one small forward is Kawhi Leonard.
That's what I was talking about when I said he just any any reasonable mind
could say he's a four? What are you doing? But I'm leaving him
a small forward. Basketball Reference has like sixty some odd percent of his minutes
there. I don't think he has problems guarding threes, So I would say
you can at least make the case that he's a three. I hesitate to
say he's in a tier by himself because the next certainly the next guy is
like an All NBA superstar as his number three, as his number four here,
But he's just been better at Kawhi has just been better than like really
almost anybody for like a solid six weeks. Has just been so good on
both ends. Is defending a little bit more like he defended four or five
years ago. Is making every floater he takes all of a sudden, and
it's just like so Rocks. His advanced metrics case is like is ironclad air
tight over anyone else that I'm going to talk about for this position. So
that helps to I have him one, I'll just give you two three just
I don't know, just for some context, Jason Tatum is two. You
probably have him as a four or something like that, and then Paul George
is three. So again I have two players on the same team that start
together in Paul George and Kawhi that I have listed at the same position.
But in your heart Dan isn't Paul George small forward, and isn't Kawhi and
isn't Jason Tatum here. So I don't mind the because you called Jalen,
you had Jalen Brown a, you had them as a two. Yeah,
So like that's why I'm just when it comes to Kawhi and PG, like
how I just don't get the justification necessarily of like, if we're gonna do
this and break it down by position, how are they the same position?
Because if it's again we're talking subjective, like what other than the fact that
and maybe this is the worst argument to make that they cannot occupy the same
space in a lineup they share together, Like what about Paul George or Kawhi
Leonard says, like that guy's not a three, Like aren't they sort of
the quintessential I guess they're combo forwards now because that's what There's no such thing
as a peer three anymore. It's really but like I think like they have
guard skills. They can guard you know, really two through four someone's I
just like there's nothing about them that is not small forwardy as except for the
fact that like they can't technically both start at small forward. But like if
the I don't know if really like if someone just said, hey, what
position is Paul George, would you say power forward and say no, I
My point here is more so because so I'll put my top three up on
the screen now, Paul George is a small forward for me. I want
to make that clear. It's I'm gonna. I don't have Kauai on this
list, and I don't have Tatum on this list either, because I called
Jallen Brown spoiler alert is going to be classied as a small forward. When
I'm looking at players that are going to be playing so many of their minutes
together, I can't live if we're gonna separate it by positions. I understand
this is why you don't want to do it. Like for if I'm you,
for example, if you're dead set on Kawhi being a three, well
then Paul George has got to be a two and you can get into some
of the defensive data. And I'm just like, I don't know Paul George's
garden mostly guys who would skew towards three, and Kaui is on a lot
of the bigger forwards, and so it's not I see your I see your
case, have Kawi as a three. I just can't get there where it's
you know that they're not playing. And I think I have one instance where
I'm a hypocrite in one of these positions where I have both guys playing in
the same position because they're staggered so much like when Paul George and Kawhi Leonard
are just going to be on the court at the same time, and we're
gonna separate this by position. How are they playing the same position? Then
that's just that's what's tough for me to reconcile. YEA, Paul George is
my best Mall forward because I don't have Tatum Orkawai on here. Brand Inger
at number two. Brand Ingmer is really good. He probably deserves more All
Star consideration than he got. There's been some peaks and valleys with him this
year. I think he's come a long way over the years as a passer.
He is someone that you can trust to like, yeah, you still
kind of want him to take more threes at points, but you can trust
him to run like capslock run your offense. He has been better over the
past season and a half defensively than I think he was, you know,
during his like initial time in New Orleans. The thing I struggle with him
because he has such a high ceiling, are those peaks and valleys where I
go through and sometimes there will be game stretches where it's Wow, he's like
a really tough fit to put into this larger environment. But then I'll watch
him and he is a guy and we've seen it now in the playoffs a
couple of times that you can trust to get in the postseason and get buckets.
Butler, he's listed as a four at a lot of places. But
I looked at like that's because they're calling Jim Hawkes the three or Caleb Martin
the three, and Butler's the four. I can't get there. And when
you look at the defensive matchups, like your argument might be, well,
he's more of a shooting guard on defense than he is on and he does
defend a lot of bigger forwards too, But power forward was such a mess
already that for me it was pretty easy to put Butler as the three here
and just I think a lot of people probably would have him normally ahead of
PG and Ingram, especially if you're in a factor in the playoff argument.
Something's off this year though, Like there's just been something's weird going on,
like the injuries, maybe since the age. And perhaps it'll be the postseason
again and we'll be sitting here trying to figure out why the heater in the
NBA Finals and then come back to this, tell me to fuck off.
You people are already finding my reactions to when Jalen Brunston signed with the Knicks
and throwing them back at me. Do it, like absolutely, absolutely do
it. But I just his Jimmy Butler shooting more threes this year. But
there's something more limited about building around him than there is PG. And so
if you want to argue Ingram versus Butler, I'm here for it. But
this season specifically, I think Ingram has been better but PG for me this
season and for the rest of this year, Like I'm taking him over over
Butler. Yeah, I have Butler at four just to illustrate, like,
oh, he wasn't a center for you, No, I have him at
both. Actually he's going to reapear each of the next two positions. Yeah,
Butler four for me, I take all. I think you're right,
something feels off, but it's like something always feels off or frequently feels off,
and then he's the best player on a finals run. So I'm just
not gonna put him any lower than that. Five, six, seven,
really five through nine. So I also have brandon Ingram on my list,
but it's gonna be a minute he is not but from the next guy.
Hey, sorry to back here, but like when you really start to dig
into the Pelicans defensive assignments, and I went back and like, watch,
just like some possessions of it, you could make it case that brand Ingram
is a two if you want to go by like defense and then but he's
also like, oh, he can run the offense. So you can make
a bunch of different positional cases for brandon Ingram. Doesn't Herb Jones kind of
mess everything up for the positions if you're focusing on defense for New Orleans.
We talked about this with McCollum a little bit. It's just like, yeah,
I guess Ingram guards some two's a lot, but that's just because maybe
Herb that the guy who's starting at the three is more dangerous, so Herb
Jones guards. Yeah. I mean it's it's sort of like the og effect
there where it's like he just might defend every single position. So yeah,
speaking up, No he's not. He's on my list. So next,
I don't feel I don't love this, but I have Scottie Barnes fifth,
and people are gonna say he's probably a power forward, but I think the
playmaking and the like more versatile defense just feels more wingish to me, so
I'm going to slot him at five. I bet he probably is not at
this position. For you, I would say I would agree with uh,
well, I don't know what might necessarily my rankings would have looked like,
but if this was pre siakam Og trade, I would have agreed with you
that he was more of a three. But even then, like his defensively
guarding a lot of the more bigger forwards and then now specifically with r.
J. Barrett Manual quickly Gary Trent Junior there, I just him as a
three feels like I just feel like iffy. So if you're basing this on
a retrospective for what he was playing a lot of this season, I kind
of get it, and I understand the the offensive role point where you don't.
When we say point forward, we're inclined to think three rather than four.
Yeah, I mean, he's averaging almost six assists, which is more
than I think everybody we've seen. You're saying it as a power forward,
you're not allowed to average. I'm just I'm just yes, you're not.
You cannot do it. It's not permitted. I just think it's sort of
it makes the case that he is kind of a win perimeter type player.
So this year, just for so every year of his career except for well
so rookie year, fifty four percent of his minutes at the four, last
year sixty percent at the three, this year thirty nine percent at the three,
thirty nine percent technically as a two and twenty so he's played the majority
of his career minutes as a three. That's using Basketball Reference, So I'm
not gonna rely on that as gospel, but it's enough to get me through,
uh through at least including hearing the glass has him as a three.
I think dunksan threes had him as a three. But when you start to
look at his like most frequent defensive matchups and like that's then incorporating the time
he did spend it also with og N Siakam, Julius Randall, Tatum,
Tobias Harris Kawhi, who is a four for me, like so like DeMar
Derozen, who I think a lot of people would have in the fours.
So I mean, like, I mean, this is hysterical, by the
way, and it's because they've played the Bulls four times, but he has
spent uh the seventh most time, like Nikolovuovic is the player that he is
defended the most is number seven on that Listwhile I'm not going to penalize the
guy for being able to guard up and down, to your point, the
versatility in general, so throw out the offensive role, throwout what we're talking
about a defense. You throw it all together, and it's well, the
versatility and the malleability is just more synonymous with small forwards than in this power.
Yeah, but I get this for sure. It's a real it's a
it's more art than science, I'll admit it. How I'm dividing up positions,
so why don't you give me your four and five. I'd be shocked
if you didn't have my number six at either four or five, just based
on the positions. This is actually a good place to like have this discussion
because I struggled. I thought I was gonna come into this with my four
and five and have these two flipped. And I also wasn't sure to be
fair. I was wondering. So I have Jalen Brown at number four,
and then I have McHale Bridges at number five, So first of all,
players from two teams that for me personally made the positions thing hell fire.
Jalen Brown has a higher assist rate than mckal Bridges this year. I was
prepared to just mcal Bridge's offensive role has changed a little bit. He's not
as efficient. I still think he's fantastic when you look at his defensive assignments
and some of their core lineups. I think you could call him a two,
a three. Definitely can't call him a four, but like he's done
that type of stuff. He was a no brain or inclusion once I decided
he was going to be a small forward. But I came into this prepared,
like the way I went about this is kind of made my list and
then thought about it. And so when I started to think about Brown versus
mcaale and then you dig into it like on the sheets rather than what you
just remember seeing, I was like, oh, John Brown's decided they've been
better than Michail Bridges this season, and that's just not I mean, John
browns an All Star and mckael Bridges wasn't. But that's you know, I
don't know how much that means anecdotally. So I was a little bit surprised
that I didn't have these two flip flops as my point and the assisting was
like that just shocked me, Like I never would have guessed that. Yeah,
because you think of the of Brown's real weakness as like the assist to
turnover ratio and more dies that even though we talk about they could use another
ball hair like you have Drew, you have Katum, you have Derek White,
you have Al Horford, and then it's like in Brooklyn there it's like
he's Spencer Dinwiddie and cam Thomas doesn't pass and so it's like, yeah,
no, I I don't know where I'm trying to think where I would have
Brown. If I'd called him a small forward, probably I probably would have
him fifth. I think he'd be ahead of Barnes, but after Butler,
and you could make the case that he belongs over Butler probably, So I
don't know. I don't have an issue with that. I mean Brown,
Brown's been on multiple deep playoff runs too, Like you get proof of concept
there, Bridges is still like we're still we still aren't one hundred percent sure,
Like should Bridges have a bigger creation role because he's kind of floundered after
looking so good in limited minutes doing that, or is he just really like
the the most like luxurious three and D guy that there is, Like he's
just like so overqualified to do that, but not quite good enough to be
more of an initiator. I think he's on the Chris Middleton level with that
or can get there to where you would want him? And maybe this is
too bullish on him the whole. Can he be a number one? I
think that ship has sailed and maybe it was never even docked. Yeah,
but he could be a one and a half and certainly a two. Yeah.
I so Bridge is a six for me just to alleviate any suspense and
that's you know issue like positionally with him, like did you struggle with that
at all? Or no? No, I was that was one of the
few I was like, hey, he's a three. That feels that feels
right to me because I just think of him in the context of the Suns
years where it's like they had a clear one, a clear two, a
clear three, and he's the three. Like that's just that's just how it
worked. Can I actually get to my number six? Yeah, because I
think it's gonna have to start a discussion about like the rest of our list,
and it's almost maybe counterintuitive to how I've done these in the past.
I have og Anobi, He's he's eight for me, so I have no
right. So it's not too I have so the name. I like,
what's the So this is the big one that I think I'll throw up my
number seven. I have Franz Wagner. And so this is where it got
tougher, because do you value OG's defensive versatility and efficiency in a role that
is far less complex offensively than Franz Wagner has. Like we've seen Franz Wagner's
efficiency has been all over the place this season. He's under well under thirty
five percent from three. Last time I checked, he was under thirty one
percent. So what does it for me with Og? And this is not
a Knicks bias. One. I might have made him a four if he
was still in Toronto, Like I don't know what I would have done,
but he might have been a two if he was still in Toronto with the
Knicks because Randall and a bigger on the court almost always when he's playing.
And Randal, we know is injured at the moment. He's been the three
for them, but he's defending everybody. And so I'm looking at that,
and I'm like, there's what And he's actually defending everybody. Sometimes it's on
the same possession. You dig into the film, you dig into the numbers,
and they're like, the defensive metrics are lagging. He's hitting his threes,
he's cutting. It's stuff he's done in Toronto. But the Knicks have
more space for him to do it in the half court, and they have
better initiators because of Jalen Brunson. Even you know, he had Siaka but
Barnes was still learning. But having Jalen Brunton and even just like these more
of these connector type passers like a Josh hart A, Dante DiVincenzo, Isaiah
Hartenstein, it's all really benefited him. And I look at his defensive dominance
and you can say, Okay, Franz Wagner, other players that we'll talk
about, Yeah, they're doing more with the ball, and that's theoretically harder
on offense. This is someone who and I have called og Anobi overrated in
the past. So if you're gonna tell me, you'd rather have og Than
than Jalen, than Butler, than McHale Bridges than Paul George. And that
was those were takes that were out there, not Paul George to be clear,
or Butler. Really I will lampoon against that. But what he does
defensively is it goes beyond anomalist. Mm hmmm. No. So I have
a Franz's on my list too, So my number Seve and I so I
don't have If you're worried about Og and Franz being like, oh, I
don't know, they're really kind of like they're both threes. For me,
I think that's totally fine, And you could have put him at four if
you want, if four wasn't so loaded. I think that was part of
my thinking too, Is we wanted to front four? You could? I
mean, you can either one. You could call either one of them.
Vot the four when Pao Bankero exists, Yeah, but he's like, it's
a combo forward and if you're trying to squeeze him in somewhere, you can't.
I didn't, but I just I would have. I wouldn't have knocked
you if you put him at the four. So I would have knocked you
if you put him at the four. Seven. Although this is another weird
positional one, is it. I'm wondering if it's my eight. I don't
know. No, it's Jalen Williams. I don't know. I don't know
why I'm necessarily calling him a three and putting him ahead of O G.
I think is a little iffy. But can I, you know, look
with the ball get he's nowhere near OG. Defensively, No, but he's
definitely not. But I think the fact that he can guard you know,
two through four semi capably. He can be the guy you put the ball
in his hands, which you really can't for O G. You can do
that with Franz. I think he's by far the most efficient scorer of anyone
I'm really considering in this range. For from three is just ridiculous. He
doesn't take as many threes as the rest of these guys, and like team
contexts like he you know, the thunder, don't live and die with him
because he's often a third option. But just like the ridiculous efficiency, the
you know, the the like stat stuffing you know, five categories basically nineteen
four and five and gets gets a steal, gets half a block. He's
got the best box plus minus and value over replacement player of anybody we've talked
about in the last several spots. That includes by the way, like Bridges
ingram Annobe. He's he's got it on all those guys. So I couldn't
put him lower than seven. But I'll readily admit like my you know,
never ending bias towards him. So I'm trying to think, so you had
tomorrow at eight. He did not make my list. Here's I didn't know
what to He's no longer a shooting guard and most places are going to have
him as a power forward at this point, and defensively, that's basically what
he is. But I can't because of his offensive role. I can't get
there. And I know his efficiency has dipped. He's still shooting the hell
out of the ball in the clutch, and like that's gotta matter. And
Chicago doesn't have the best spacing environs ire either, excuse me. So you
have to kind of appreciate the creativity he's giving you there and he's just by
far and away. And this is what does for me to say he's the
best passer on the bulls is not hot take here necessarily impressive, but the
fact that you can say it, and it's just not a problem because our
issues with the Bulls are not that the Marta Rosen is their best passer.
They go so far beyond that. So that's why I landed with Damar and
why I kept him out of the four is because offensively he is He's a
three. And that's like kind of your argument with Scotti. So maybe I
waited too much of Well, I think I factored in more of Scotty's role
now, just based off the other players on the court. I will get
into my nine and ten because I did another Unless you had something to say
on Tamar, I know, I think he's a really interesting guy because like
if all we ever talk about is how shot creation is like the premium NBA
skill, and he has it. He absolutely has that. But he is
by far and this is a position that you need defense from generally speaking,
because of the scorers that occupy it, he's by far the worst defensive player.
Yeah, like anyone we've talked about, and like maybe the next ten
guys we might even consider. So like that just that just did it for
me, And I realize that's contradictory because all you know, it is acknowledged
that like if you can create offense, that is a signature skill that everyone
wants. It's just compared to these other guys and for what the position demands,
I think like that just I couldn't get past that. So he's in
my also considered, but I just didn't have him top ten. I had
him close to dropping one spot for this next guy. But I'm going to
ask you and maybe now, well, who would you rather have for the
rest of the season, Demarta Rozen or Chris Middleton oh Man. So Middleton
did not make my list either, but it was considered. I think maybe
I would rather have DeRozan because I think Middleton's availability is so if he has
average, what does he having like thirteen a game or something like, It's
just he's not the savorit thing is is he can still have his Knights,
and he's definitely getting lost in sort of the new hierarchy, and so I
can discount like that drop. He is not the same player he was two
and a half years ago. Yeah, and that's a big deal. So
he didn't make my top ten either. He was eleven. My nine to
ten were Devin Missell and Jeremy Grant. Devin Missell, let me start with
Jeremy Grant. He's good he's just on lineup data, he's listed as a
four, but what he does defensively is more three stuff. And even the
way he plays offense, it's not point forward, but it's a three.
And so he doesn't have I trust devn Vissell as a secondary passer more.
And that's why I couldn't make a case for Jeremy Grant over DeMar or Franz
Wagner. And he's not as good defensively as you would think, but the
plasticity on defense, that versatility, that valuability is huge, and the fact
that he's still been good this year despite like, well, okay, he
likes we've seen in the past that he enjoys having a prominent offensive role.
But oh, he's still hitting almost fifty percent of it. Like his two
point percentage is plummeted, but he's still hitting over forty percent of his threes,
and like he's over twenty points a game, and his true shooting percentage
has not dropped off a cliff, even though it's, you know, below
league average, it's only by a hair So I have to respect that.
And so I because power forward was such a bloodbath for me, I was
like, I have the justification to make Grant a three, and Middleton was
my first cut there and because of the way I'm sure you have a deeper
honorable mentions list, but because of the way my lists stacked out, like
my first names that were tough to cut were Jade McDaniel's, Trey Murphy.
And then to wrap up on Devin Vessel, some people will view him as
a two. You could probably even make the case that he's a four.
He's not as good defensively as he should be. We are finding out.
I've seen the discourse that people like, well, I think we understand now
that Denvesell needs to be the number three. I still push back against that.
It's because you don't have a number one right now, that you have
no idea what Devin Vessel is. And by having one, what I mean
is Victor Wemanyama. This is fully experimental. So the best version of Victor
Wemenyama is your number one. It's not there yet, And so let's see
what Wenby looks like as a more efficient efficient cell creator or if you need
someone like because of the makeup of the Spurs or because of Wemby, where
no Wenby needs to be the second best self creator, and so that will
knock Vassell down. I think he can get to a level offensively that we
saw for Michael Bridges after he left the suns Leash, or even with the
Sons during injuries, and I will die on that hill with them. No,
I think that's a good hill to be on. I hope you're okay
on it, because I might join you there. I appreciate that, just
like maybe take a take a pic. You can have a paper cut on
that hill. You don't need to go quite that extreme. For why why
do you keep I keep saying die on this hill? Why are you so
intent on dying? I I thought of as visell as, I guess more
of a two. But but I no, he's not on my He's not
on my list because I got two guys to go that you already have higher
that I have to have on here. So no, I meant, I'm
surprised if you considered him a two that he didn't make it for you.
Oh no, wait, sorry, I have him at a as three.
As a three. I don't know why I had his name cut off there,
and also had Trey Murphy's name cut off. He's also considered at the
three. So my my nine and ten are are brandon Ingram nine, Franz
Wagner ten. You need to explain yourself with brandon Ingram. Yeah. So
for me, basically, it's that he's not as good defensively as like say
og or Bridges or Barns or really almost anybody that's above him, probably better
than Jalen Williams are close to it. The fact that he just still doesn't
shoot as many threes as I'd like him too. I got to pull back
up my comparison page here, thirty five percent from three, and he shoots
where is he three point eight three point attempts per game? Like, that's
just not enough if I'm gonna knock Jalen Williams for three point two, but
he's shooting forty five, like ten percent better than Ingram, you know,
offensively, I just I think you could make the case that Williams is a
better offensive player and the rest of these guys are better defensively. Wagner is
a little bit the same. It's hard. I wanted Wagner to be higher,
but he's shooting like thirty percent from three, and I don't know that
we have enough of a sample size over his career to say that, like,
oh, he's gonna be what I should have had the courage to do,
which was probably bubb him below like Damar and Misceille it Lee. Obviously
they didn't make your list, but you put him where I feel like I'm
betting a lot on like the rest of this season a little bit. Yeah,
so I think you were You're probably more and I'm sorry to interrupt you,
but I think that you're more accurate here than I am. To be
honest, Well, I mean, Franz is twenty two, and you're comparing
him to like Bridges' twenty seven, Ingram twenty six, OG twenty six.
These are their basketball reference years. I'm not sure when exactly their birthdays are,
but like, if you're banking on the rest of the year, like
Franz is the guy, right because he's got the most upside and he's playing,
at least from a scoring efficiency standpoint, like blow what he has done
in the past, So I think the upside is for sure there. I
don't. I don't have a lot else to say. They're both really good
players. I just Ingram to me isn't quite doesn't quite have the volume efficiency
combo on offense to justify, like you know, he's a would you say
Ingram is a break even defender at this point or do you still is that
still putting it too Rosalie? No, I don't think that's putting it too
rossely at all. I mean, and they do he's insulated too. I
think they do a good job of insulating. CJ. McCollum more, but
Ingram could be insulated as well. And that's a lot of that is,
well, you have Trey Murphy, you have HERB Jones, and then like
you know, they're not going to do the big man stuff. So it's
like it's harder to insulate Zion than it is Ingram or CJ. McCollum,
is my point, Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm trying to think who
you haven't mentioned as like an honorable mention that I have here. You said
Murphy, you included the cell. Oh, Jeremy Grant, I don't have
here because I just had him as a four and so not considered here.
Kegan Murray. Just just the thought Cam Johnson is a probably more of a
four. Thought about him for a little bit, MPJ kind of a three
four thought about him a little bit DeRozan's there for me Middleton, I think
we've covered. Unless you have more names that we that didn't make it.
I think we've gotten like almost twenty deep here, so we have. So
I'll recap my top ten since we just alternate towards the end of these.
Now, I had Paul George at one, and I'm wondering, actually,
very quickly, if anyone skips to the end of the video or the pop
and our listeners who listen on the podcast player. I don't think we'll skip
to the end, but if someone's on YouTube and just scrolls to the end
of this and sees my list where there's no Kawhi or Tatum, I wonder
if they'll actually be people like, how could you not rank Jason Datum or
something no one could know. There's no possible world where someone would assume you
just don't think Tatum is a top ten small forward if you think he's a
s I'm hoping. I'm just you know, I'm always but I have Paul
George one, Brandan Ingram two because you're a hater, Jimmy Butler three,
Jalen Brown four, Michale Bridges five, Oget Adobi six, Froz Wagner seven,
demartro's An eight, Devin Vessel na, Jeremy Grant hit okay, And
again most of our differences are just in how we split positions here. So,
uh, this will hate Ingram it is and I hate brandon Ingram.
I guess Kawhi one, Jason Tatum two, Paul George three, Jimmy Butler
four, Scottie Barnes five, mckel Bridges six, Jalen Williams seven, O
g eight, Ingram nine, and Franz Wagner ten. I guess, in
the context of your list Ingram at nine, isn't egregious having him below I
think McHale jwn og is. And even like that, I mean there's still
I probably would have him in front of probably behind Butler. Oh, I
had him ahead of Butler. So I'm like, you can make the case
more easily like he should be five. I'm surprised you have him many.
I'd give you Scotty or McHale, Like I'll give you one of those both
dudes. But well, I did say five through nine is like, I'm
open to arguments on all those within that range. But like, if we're
doing tiers five through nine would be would be a tier for me? And
would your tier be our Kawhi and Tatum and PG? Are they a tier
or Butler in that you think one through four is your tier? I think
maybe Kawhi and Tatum are in their own and then maybe PG and Butler belong
in one by themselves. It feels like there's some dividing lines. So I
got I mean, I have ten players here and I'm trying to split them
into like six tiers, so I don't know how. Yeah, I think
my top tier is like the PG, Ingram Butler, where if that's my
basis for using small forward, you could probably rank those guys in any order
and I wouldn't give you a ton of pushback. I just think pg's been
I think pg's pretty clearly above Ingram and Butler, although Butler Butler's been there.
You know, if you're the butt like that is, I know that
we're ranking them for the rest of the season. The postseason is part of
that. I don't know what the mind Heat look, but it's just like
we have all this evidence that Jimmy Butler and the Heat are just gonna flip
this switch in the postseason, and yet we're dismissing it. Do you want
to take us out of here? Yeah? Thanks everybody for checking out the
small forward edition of our player rankings. Let us know what you think,
what you agree with, what you disagree with. How disrespectful I was to
brandon Ingram. Sorry, it's a tough position as always fans, Yeah,
that's all right. I'm trying to think I might offend him with my Zion
ranking too. And I didn't really give McCollum a lot of love, so
I may not be uh. Yeah, and we know Kings fans are gonna
hate you, at least hopefully. Nuggets fans they some of them got a
little mad at me already, but hopefully we're back in their good graces because
you called KCP the first Yeah, I'm good there. I also said Darren
Fox should have been an All Star. I feel very strong. Was he
not? Like? Get Kat off there? And if you were going to
put another Timberwolfo should have been Rudy Gobert. What are we doing? We
get out of my brain? That's exactly what I think. So follow us
on the socials at Hardwood Knox if you want to get involved in our discorder,
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and apologies to Jared Allen. Yeah,