Swope’s Asset Rankings (2018)

[Swope]

Swopes Asset Rankings (2018 Offseason)

This was fun and exhausting at the same time. I look forward to the hate. I’m sure you’ll all let me know who I missed. Enjoy!

Tier 1 — New Kids On The Block

1. Giannis Antetokounmpo (Toronto Raptors)
2. Nikola Jokic (Detroit Pistons)
3. Luka Doncic (San Antonio Spurs)
4. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Cleveland Cavaliers)

• It may sound crazy, especially when two of these guys have yet to play a minute in the league, but these are the untouchables. The Greek Freak is already stacking accolades in Toronto, while Jokic has been instrumental in a quick turnaround for the Pistons in his rookie year, carrying them to the playoffs. It’s expected that Luka and SGA will be given the keys to their new teams right away and will look to follow in the footsteps of their fellow foreigners.

Tier 2 — The Proven Superstars

5. Derrick Rose (Milwaukee Bucks)
6. Donald Sloan (Miami Heat)
7. Russell Westbrook (Detroit Pistons)
8. Michael Beasley (Miami Heat)
9. Kawhi Leonard (New Orleans Hornets)
10. Stephen Curry (Washington Wizards)

• What a group we have here to round out our top 10. Rose and Sloan are a toss up with similar résumés but gave the edge Rose for now as he’s a bit more decorated. Westbrook may have gotten the benefit of the doubt a bit here, but love how he can stuff a box score and his move to Detroit should make the Pistons a true contender. Two time champion Beasley slots in behind Russ, followed by two absolute machines in Curry and Kawhi that just haven’t seemed to find the right situation.

Tier 3 — The Flaws in our Stars

11. Terry Rozier (Utah Jazz)
12. Kyrie Irving (Golden State Warriors)
13. Kevin Love (Milwaukee Bucks)
14. Anthony Davis (Toronto Raptors)
15. Blake Griffin (Boston Celtics)
16. Wayne Ellington (New York Knicks)

• Our next tier is full of more star players, but players that also have something holding them back from that superstar label. Rozier isn’t the flashiest guy but an absolute grinder. Kyrie can score with the best but also isn’t your quintessential point guard. Love has a great all around game but doesn’t create turnovers at a strong rate for a big man. AD and Blake are fantastic players but probably not your go-to guys on a championship team. And Ellington has been putting up tons of points in NY and looked great but is he THE guy or just the only guy? Obviously none of these guys have real flaws but we did have to nitpick a little to show why they’re not in the top 10.

Tier 4 — LeBron James

17. LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers)

• This legend more than deserves his own tier. I initially had him higher than this but his age looks to be catching up with him just a tad. I’m not sure if it’s negligence or injury (22 games played) that nuked his season last year but the numbers were down across the board. I’m fully expecting him to bounce back but as far as asset value, I couldn’t place him any higher as a 33 year old. It’s a shame he’ll probably ride off into the sunset with one ring as the best player to ever grace the BSL this iteration.

Tier 5 — Young Points

18. Trae Young (New Jersey Nets)
19. Ja Morant (Denver Nuggets)
20. Jalen Brunson (Seattle SuperSonics)
21. Jamal Murray (Denver Nuggets)
22. Markelle Fultz (Memphis Grizzlies)

• Extremely unproven group here but I strongly believe you need to build a winner by finding the right point guard first. Fultz had a solid rookie season with room the grow, while the others have yet to go through their first training camp which makes this a total crap chute at the moment. But if I have one (or two!) of these guys and get a call on them, I’m not budging unless the return is a guy higher up on this list.

Tier 6 — A Mixed Bag

23. Mike Conley (Los Angeles Clippers)
24. DeMar DeRozan (Minnesota Timberwolves)
25. Brandon Ingram (Denver Nuggets)
26. DeMarcus Cousins (Indiana Pacers)
27. Stanley Johnson (Orlando Magic)
28. Bam Adebayo (San Antonio Spurs)
29. Donovan Mitchell (Sacramento Kings)
30. DeAndre Ayton (Los Angeles Lakers)
31. DeAndre Jordan (Los Angeles Clippers)
32. Timofey Mozgov (Utah Jazz)
33. Karl-Anthony Towns (Dallas Mavericks)
34. James Harden (Miami Heat)
35. Buddy Hield (Seattle SuperSonics)
36. Quincy Pondexter (Portland Trailblazers)
37. John Wall (Toronto Raptors)
38. Kemba Walker (Minnesota Timberwolves)
39. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Minnesota Timberwolves)
40. Carmelo Anthony (Phoenix Suns)
41. Klay Thompson (Memphis Grizzlies)
42. Jahlil Okafor (Toronto Raptors)
43. Yakuba Ouattara (Sacramento Kings)
44. Harrison Barnes (Los Angeles Lakers)

• This tier is full of guys in their primes that are firing on all cylinders and a few sprinkled in that are entering that territory quickly.

Tier 7 — More Young’ns

45. Payton Pritchard (Utah Jazz)
46. Mikal Bridges (Orlando Magic)
47. Desmond Bane (Houston Rockets)
48. Marvin Bagley III (Orlando Magic)
49. Malik Beasley (Indiana Pacers)
50. Wendell Carter Jr (Washington Wizards)
51. Nerlens Noel (Boston Celtics)
52. Lauri Markkanen (Memphis Grizzlies)
53. Lonzo Ball (Houston Rockets)
54. Devin Booker (Indiana Pacers)
55. Malachi Richardson (Portland Trailblazers)

• Lots of young guys here that have yet to prove anything but have the potential to really make a name for themselves in the next few seasons.

Tier 8 — Role Players Plus

56. Gabe Pruitt (Boston Celtics)
57. CJ McCollum (Portland Trailblazers)
58. Rudy Gay (Dallas Mavericks)
59. Rajon Rondo (Cleveland Cavaliers)
60. Andris Biederins (Memphis Grizzlies)
61. Al Horford (New York Knicks)
62. Jonny Flynn (Chicago Bulls)
63. Paul George (Los Angeles Clippers)
64. Chris Bosh (Washington Wizards)
65. Kevin Durant (New Orleans Hornets)

• Guys that you probably thought you could build around at one time or another but really just very important role players on a contender.

Tier 9 — More Youth

66. Justise Winslow (Houston Rockets)
67. Mario Hezonja (Minnesota Timberwolves)
68. Fred VanVleet (Memphis Grizzlies)
69. Ivica Zubac (Sacramento Kings)
70. Andrew Wiggins (San Antonio Spurs)

• Boom or bust types here. A few guys look like they can be players if everything goes the right way. A couple others are expected to fetch some healthy contract offers in free agency soon that may or may not be a good thing for the team that signs them.

Tier 10 — Blockers & The Rest

71. Hasheem Thabeet (Minnesota Timberwolves)
72. Ersan Ilyasova (Atlanta Hawks)
73. Anthony Bennett (Utah Jazz)
74. Cole Aldrich (New Orleans Hornets)
75. Serge Ibaka (Golden State Warriors)
76. Chris Kaman (Los Angeles Clippers)
77. Jarvis Varnado (Sacramento Kings)
78. Greg Oden (Dallas Mavericks)
79. Tyler Ennis (New Orleans Hornets)
80. Ricky Rubio (Indiana Pacers)
81. Terrence Ross (Los Angeles Clippers)
82. Jakob Poetl (New Orleans Hornets)
83. Pascal Siakam (Memphis Grizzlies)

• Jammed a lot of rim protectors in here that do the dirty work you don’t necessarily see on the score sheet. Also filled it out with some superb role guys that can cover holes and keep teams afloat.

Honorable Mentions - The Olds

84. Dwyane Wade (Los Angeles Clippers)
85. Dwight Howard (Phoenix Suns)
86. Brandon Roy (Phoenix Suns)
87. Gilbert Arenas (Los Angeles Lakers)
88. Deron Williams (Phoenix Suns)
89. Ben Gordon (New Jersey Nets)
90. Danny Granger (Toronto Raptors)

• The stars of yesterday get their shine here in the honorable mention tier. These guys all have some juice left but can’t see them fetching much in a trade with retirement looming closely.

[Hail2pitt]

Great stuff Swope!!

[Cloud]

Terry is a top 5 scorer and finals MVP all while he was on his rookie deal. He’s averaged 26/5/5 with 1 TOPG through 4 years and led his team to B2B finals. Shocked to see him at 11.

[Cloud]

Also 24-31 should’ve been it’s own tier just titled “Dudes who’s names started with De”

DeMar
DeMarcus
DeAndre
DeAndre