Giannis, LeBron And The Top 100 Players Of The 2019-2020 NBA Season

There is no official word on whether the 2019-20 NBA regular season is wrapped, but the further we get into this Coronavirus-induced hiatus, the more difficult it is to imagine any games happening before the playoffs.

If the season is in the books, numbers are locked in. Standings in a lot of catch-all metrics are final, assuming there are no tweaks to the formula coming (something that happened with both ESPN’s real plus-minus and Basketball Reference’s box plus/minus this season).

Given the various biases and emphases of each catch-all, it’s difficult to pick just one to represent the league.

If you’re partial to RPM, BPM or Basketball Index’s player impact plus-minus, Giannis Antetokounmpo was the best player this season. FiveThirtyEight’s RAPTOR, however, has both James Harden and Kawhi Leonard ahead of him.

In an effort to level off the various emphases, you can sort every player in the league by the average of their ranks (not the numbers themselves) in the following catch-alls (as well as their cumulative variants):

The top 100 based on that methodology reads as follows:

1-Giannis Antetokounmpo

2-James Harden

3-LeBron James

4-Kawhi Leonard

5-Luka Doncic

6-Anthony Davis

7-Nikola Jokic

8-Damian Lillard

9-Chris Paul/Jimmy Butler

11-Rudy Gobert

12-Jayson Tatum

13-Khris Middleton

14-Joel Embiid

15-Trae Young

16-Hassan Whiteside

17-Ben Simmons

18-Karl-Anthony Towns

19-Bam Adebayo

20-Christian Wood

21-Kyle Lowry

22-Montrezl Harrell

23-Kemba Walker

24-Paul George

25-Nikola Vucevic

Some names that people might consider outliers in the top 25 include Hassan Whiteside, Christian Wood and Montrezl Harrell. Some have wondered if a lot of the catch-alls favor bigs over wings and guards. Box plus/minus was certainly this way, until a midseason overhaul. But of course, here we are with those three in the top 25. When you look at their basic numbers, though, including raw plus/minus, it’s a little easier to understand.

26-Pascal Siakam

27-Danilo Gallinari

28-Eric Bledsoe

29-Jonas Valanciunas/Jrue Holiday

31-Devin Booker

32-Domantas Sabonis

33-Kristaps Porzingis

34-Ivica Zubac

35-Bradley Beal

36-Steven Adams

37-Russell Westbrook/Spencer Dinwiddie

39-Brandon Ingram

40-Mitchell Robinson

41-Jarrett Allen

42-Donte DiVincenzo

43-CJ McCollum

44-Ricky Rubio

45-Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

46-Fred VanVleet

47-George Hill

48-Gordon Hayward

49-Jamal Murray

50-Devonte’ Graham

This crop includes plenty of up-and-comers. Pascal Siakam, Devin Booker, Domantas Sabonis, Kristaps Porzingis, Brandon Ingram, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and several others here are still a few years shy of their primes. The league’s future seems about as bright as it has ever been.

51-Brandon Clarke

52-Will Barton

53-Dennis Schroöder

54-Tobias Harris

55-Zach LaVine

56-John Collins

57-Jordan Clarkson

58-Tim Hardaway

59-Donovan Mitchell

60-Clint Capela

61-Derrick Favors

62-Daniel Theis

63-De’Aaron Fox

64-Kyrie Irving

65-Al Horford

66-Malcolm Brogdon/Nerlens Noel

68-Jaylen Brown

69-Buddy Hield

70-Davis Bertans

71-Derrick Rose

72-Jakob Poeltl

73-Bojan Bogdanovic/Norman Powell

75-Enes Kanter

This is another section of the list that seems to be artificially boosting big men, including Enes Kanter and Nerlens Noel. Jordan Clarkson finishing ahead of teammate Donovan Mitchell catches the eye, as well.

76-Duncan Robinson

77-JaVale McGee

78-Kevin Love

79-Robert Covington

80-Marcus Smart

81-DeAndre Jordan

82-Brook Lopez

83-Lonzo Ball

84-Larry Nance

85-Patrick Beverley

86-Terence Davis

87-Joe Ingles

88-Richaun Holmes

89-Evan Fournier

90-Ja Morant

91-Derrick White

92-Patty Mills

93-LaMarcus Aldridge

94-D’Angelo Russell

95-Andre Drummond

96-Lou Williams

97-Mikal Bridges

98-Paul Millsap

99-Zion Williamson

100-Chris Boucher

The Toronto Raptors have assumed the San Antonio Spurs’ spot as the team that is best at identifying and developing talent that comes from outside the lottery. Terence Davis and Chris Boucher, both in this final group, went undrafted before making key contributions to the 2019-20 Raptors.

Another placement of note in this section is Zion Williamson’s. The fact that he got in when half of this is based on cumulative numbers is remarkable. He only appeared in 19 games and logged 565 minutes this season. If you sort everyone by the average of their ranks in only the rate numbers, Zion comes in at No. 22.

Of course, this shouldn’t be considered dispositive. It’s just one way to look at how individual players performed this season. As far as a baseline goes, though, it does pass the smell test. The top 15 feels especially accurate.

Again, the chances of any of this shifting again appear to be getting slimmer by the day. Chances are, the 2019-20 season is over. If it is, consider this your rough guide to which individual players were best.