Hoops draft guide: NBA top player rankings

By Rick Morris

The 21st Century Media Alliance has struck again! The combined efforts of The FDH Lounge, FantasyDrafthelp.com, Sportsology and Card Corner Club have produced your ultimate guide to the NBA Draft (and beyond), HOOPS DRAFTOLOGY 2010. We encourage you to check out these comprehensive yet compact guides in their entirety, and as an inducement to do so, we are serializing them here.

Here is an examination of the top players presently in the NBA:


For these purposes, the top tier of players represents the few in the league who are the most capable of winning a championship without a fellow super-elite player. The second tier represents players who are presently at what might be considered an All-Star level. This list also is fascinating because it reveals the true impact of July 1 on the NBA. Players in bold are potential unrestricted free agents. 10 out of the 30 players on this list could well be on the market, but the true impact goes beyond that number because of the placement of most of the players named here; two of the top four, six of the top 12 and eight of the top 16 players will potentially be able to sign with the team of their choice (and this list doesn’t even reference restricted free agent Rudy Gay). Such a bonanza has little precedent not only in basketball, but in sports as a whole.


Top Tier
1
LeBron James
2
Kobe Bryant
3
Kevin Durant
4
Dwyane Wade
5
Chris Paul
Second Tier
6
Steve Nash
7
Dwight Howard
8
Deron Williams
9
Dirk Nowitzki
10
Chris Bosh
11
Carmelo Anthony
12
Amare Stoudemire
13
Brandon Roy
14
Derrick Rose
15
Joe Johnson
16
Carlos Boozer
17
Rajon Rondo
18
Danny Granger
19
Tim Duncan
20
Monte Ellis
21
Rudy Gay
22
Zach Randolph
23
Paul Pierce
24
Pau Gasol
25
Chauncey Billups
26
David Lee
27
LaMarcus Aldridge
28
Andre Iguodala
29
OJ Mayo
30
Antawn Jamison