Ranking the NBA’s Top 100 Players, Meta-Analysis: Trends and Tidbits

Welcome to the Top 100 Players rankings afterparty. As I made the list, wrote (and wrote and wrote and wrote) about it, I kept wondering things: Who rose the most spots? Which team had the most players? How many undrafted players are on the list? Which Top 100 players changed teams? I didn’t want to incorporate all this junk into what was already too long, so I conceived of a post-partumy analysis post, which also would conveniently house links to all the other posts. In fact, let’s start with that. Here are the links to the original parts of the list:

Part 1: The Best Player in the World. (1)
Part 2: Players Who Can Win You a Title (2–6)
Part 3: Stars You Should Win With (7–22)
Part 4: Stars You Can Ride (23–42)
Part 5: Tinkering With Stardom (43–64)
Part 6 (and 7): Players to Build With (and Key Pieces) (65–100)

That’s it. Now you’ve got the whole list! But, in case you want a condensed version, let’s drop it in table form:

As you can see, I’ve included where each player ranked on my list last year, where they rank on The Ringer, in NBA 2K24, and on Matt Moore’s Action Network rankings. On my Google Sheet, I had this meticulously color coded, so you could visually see whom I was higher or lower on than the consensus. It, uh, didn’t export right.

Next, I wanted to break down the list by team:
Milwaukee Bucks-5 (Antetokounmpo, Holiday, Middleton, Lopez, Portis)
Golden State Warriors-5 (Curry, Thompson, Paul, Wiggins, Green)
Boston Celtics-5 (Tatum, Brown, Porzingis, Brogdon, White)
Denver Nuggets-4 (Jokic, Murray, Porter Jr., Gordon)
Philadelphia 76ers-4 (Embiid, Harden, Maxey, Harris)
Phoenix Suns-4 (Durant, Booker, Beal, Ayton)
Los Angeles Lakers-4 (James, Davis, Reaves, Russell)
Los Angeles Clippers-4 (Leonard, George, Westbrook, Powell)
Memphis Grizzlies-4 (Morant, Jackson Jr., Bane, Smart)
New Orleans Pelicans-4 (Williamson, Ingram, McCollum, Murphy III)
Cleveland Cavaliers-4 (Mitchell, Garland, Mobley, Allen)
Sacramento Kings-4 (Sabonis, Fox, Monk, Barnes)
Brooklyn Nets-4 (Bridges, Claxton, Dinwiddie, Johnson)
Houston Rockets-4 (Green, VanVleet, Sengun, Brooks)
Miami Heat-3 (Butler, Adebayo, Herro)
Portland Trail Blazers-3 (Lillard, Grant, Simons)
Minnesota Timberwolves-3 (Edwards, Towns, Gobert)
Oklahoma City Thunder-3 (Gilgeous-Alexander, Giddey, Williams)
Indiana Pacers-3 (Haliburton, Turner, Mathurin)
Toronto Raptors-3 (Siakam, Barnes, Anunoby)
Chicago Bulls-3 (DeRozan, LaVine, Vucevic)
New York Knicks-3 (Brunson, Randle, Barrett)
Detroit Pistons-3 (Cunningham, Bogdanovic, Ivey)
Orlando Magic-3 (Banchero, Wagner, Carter Jr.)
Dallas Mavericks-2 (Doncic, Irving)
Atlanta Hawks-2 (Young, Murray)
Utah Jazz-2 (Markkanen, Clarkson)
Washington Wizards-2 (Poole, Kuzma)
San Antonio Spurs-2 (Johnson, Vassell)
Charlotte Hornets-1 (Ball)

So, by division, that’s:
Pacific-21
Atlantic-19
Central-18
Southwest-16
Northwest-15
Southeast-11

And by conference, that’s:
West-52
East-48

Biggest risers:
Tyrese Haliburton: +59 from 84 to 25.
Domantas Sabonis: +32 from 55 to 23.
Mikal Bridges: +31 from 77 to 46.
Aaron Gordon: +23 from 94 to 71.
Evan Mobley: +22 from 66 to 44.
Kyle Kuzma: +22 from 83 to 61.
Jaren Jackson Jr.: +21 from 56 to 35.
Klay Thompson: +21 from 70 to 49.
Malcolm Brogdon: +19 from 96 to 77.
Bojan Bogdanovic: +18 from 87 to 69.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: +17 from 36 to 19.
Anthony Edwards: +16 from 31 to 15.
Desmond Bane: +16 from 52 to 36.
Kristaps Porzingis: +15 from 75 to 60.

It’s important not to confuse being a big riser with being the “most improved player” for two reasons: it is harder to go from 36 to 19 than it is to go from 77 to 46, and I am projecting growth through next year, so it is more about where I expect them to be in 2023–24 than where they were in 2022–23.

Seventeen players broke in from being unranked:
Lauri Markkanen (42).
Jalen Green (53).
Josh Giddey (54).
Brook Lopez (65).
Alperen Sengun (68).
Franz Wagner (70).
Nic Claxton (72).
Jordan Clarkson (76).
Norman Powell (78).
Austin Reaves (86).
Derrick White (87).
Malik Monk (88).
Keldon Johnson (89).
Cameron Johnson (91).
Wendell Carter Jr. (92).
Devin Vassell (95).
Trey Murphy III (96).

Four players made it after their rookie year:
Paolo Banchero (41).
Jalen Williams (81).
Jaden Ivey (99).
Bennedict Mathurin (100).

That means 21 total spots turned over from last year. Here’s who dropped out (and where they ranked last year):
1. John Collins (45).
2. Ben Simmons (46).
3. Kyle Lowry (49).
4. T.J. Warren (58).
5. Lonzo Ball (59).
6. Christian Wood (62).
7. Robert Williams (68).
8. Cole Anthony (69).
9. Jonas Valanciunas (74).
10. Mike Conley (76).
11. Reggie Jackson (81).
12. Saddiq Bey (86).
13. Victor Oladipo (89).
14. Gordon Hayward (91).
15. Kevin Love (92).
16. Jusuf Nurkic (93).
17. Luguentz Dort (95).
18. Terry Rozier (97).
19. Marcus Morris (98).
20. Al Horford (99).
21. Patrick Beverley (100).

Oh, this part is painful for me. Some of these guys legitimately lulled their way out: Reggie Jackson, Victor Oladipo, Gordon Hayward, Kevin Love, Jusuf Nurkic, Marcus Morris, Patrick Beverley. Other guys, I just decided I was out on: Kyle Lowry, Robert Williams, Jonas Valanciunas, Mike Conley, Terry Rozier, Al Horford. Ben Simmons and Lonzo Ball are standalone cases. Christian Wood is a tree falling in a forest with no one around who will put him in the damn game. But several of these are flaming hot misses. John Collins, T.J. Warren, and Cole Anthony haunt me. Collins seemed to be at least partially a victim of circumstances in Atlanta, but people tried to tell me on Warren and Anthony and I didn’t listen. Ya’ll, I had Cole Anthony one spot ahead of Klay Thompson. It still makes me want to throw up. These lists are hard because you’re inclined to project progression and regression, and sometimes it doesn’t go that way. By the way, John Collins is in no worse shape this year than Lauri Markkanen was going into last. We’ll see.

Here’s who fell the most while staying in the rankings:
D’Angelo Russell: -37 from 60 to 97.
Rudy Gobert: -32 from 27 to 59.
Tyler Herro: -32 from 53 to 85.
Chris Paul: -30 from 20 to 50.
RJ Barrett: -29 from 61 to 90.
CJ McCollum: -21 from 26 to 47.
Andrew Wiggins: -19 from 44 to 63.
Khris Middleton: -18 from 25 to 43.
Dejounte Murray: -18 from 37 to 55.
Bradley Beal: -17 from 28 to 45.
Draymond Green: -16 from 51 to 67.
Harrison Barnes: -16 from 82 to 98.

Most of these guys had proportionately disappointing seasons relative to their fall. CJ McCollum was a guy I had rated very optimistically last year after the way things finished for him and the Pelicans. Harrison Barnes is another one whose fall was more my mind changing than his game falling off.

Speaking of things changing, here’s the top players who changed teams this offseason (not counting Damian Lillard and James Harden, who could go any day, one supposes).
45. Bradley Beal (Washington to Phoenix).
50. Chris Paul (Phoenix to Golden State).
57. Jordan Poole (Golden State to Washington).
60. Kristaps Porzingis (Washington to Boston).
62. Fred VanVleet (Toronto to Houston).
73. Marcus Smart (Boston to Memphis).
94. Dillon Brooks (Memphis to Houston).

That’s a really short list! And without movement from Damian Lillard and James Harden (and Tyler Herro, one thinks), there’s really a dearth of top-end talent changing hands, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, although very counter to what we’re used to with the NBA. Last year, Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert were top-30 players with new teams. Beal at 45 being the highest constitutes an oddity in an era of player movement, which, with each subsequent CBA change, seems to be receding further into the past. If we do wind up with Damian Lillard in Miami or James Harden in Los Angeles, we’ll have a more normal degree of turnover among the NBA’s best.

Here’s the list broken down by draft position. I used buckets. I like buckets.

That second round list looks like it would form a cohesive and awesome team. I bet that team would win FIBA. The top pick column is missing just a few fraternity members — Anthony Bennett, Ben Simmons, and Markelle Fultz — since 2010. It’s a little surprising that just two undrafted players cracked the list, but makes the feat all the more impressive for Reaves and VanVleet.

Lastly, here’s a positional breakdown, using my best judgment for distinguishing positions in an increasingly positionless era. Rather than try to shove players into a position 1–5, point guard through center, I bucket them (buckets!) into ball-handlers, wing players, and frontcourt players, which seems to work better in the modern era.

And that’s it. I’m out of gimmicks to try. Thanks for reading. Definitely not doing this much next year, if I do these rankings at all. SO BE GRATEFUL. (Like how I am to you for reading!)