ESPN: Top 25 Players Under 25 (Jrue - 12th, Thad - 17th, Turner - 28th)

[sixer04fan]

Here is ESPN's 2nd annual Top 25 Under 25 rankings. EDIT: They also released the "next 10" of rankings for players under 25. Evan Turner comes in at 28...

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story...players-age-25

To be clear, the rankings are based on if you're starting a franchise and have these guys around for years to come, not based on just this season. Also keep in mind that some players ranked on last year's list are 25+ now and don't qualify. Jrue and Thad are in some great company. This is a good reminder that Thad in particular is still very young, and while he's been in the league for some time now, he can still improve, and has already shown that this year when many thought he's basically already leveled off. His potential is still even better than what he is today. Jrue's improvement and potential goes without saying, but many here thought he wouldn't be able to improve much more before the season started because he's already been around for 3 years. There was a lot of scrutiny in here when they were both given their new contracts. I think that we often overvalue the talent on other teams and undervalue the two best young players we have.

Rank) Player (Age, Last year's rank)

1. Kevin Durant (24, 1st)
2. Russell Westbrook (24, 6th)
3. Blake Griffin (23, 5th)
4. James Harden (23, 8th)
5. Derrick Rose (24, 2nd)
6. Kyrie Irving (20, 9th)
7. Serge Ibaka (23, 20th)
8. Kevin Love (24, 3rd)
9. Brook Lopez (24, 25th)
10. Steph Curry (24, 14th)
11. Kenneth Faried (23, unranked)

12. Jrue Holiday (22, 24th)

Current: As a big-bodied guard with excellent shooting skills in his rookie season, Holiday has morphed into a complete lead guard who can double as a pure scorer when needed. Still younger than many college seniors, he plays like a grizzled veteran in his decision-making and overall control of the game. A borderline All-Star already, Holiday's game truly will explode when he's surrounded by better talent, as he has the hoops IQ to make everyone better. He's learning how to take over games. -- Thorpe

Future: Based on this season's leap forward, Holiday's upside is immense. As Coach Thorpe stated above, Holiday is young -- younger than everyone but Irving ranked ahead of him. So Holiday has at least another couple of seasons of development ahead of him. Already, Holiday has improved his ability to draw contact, an issue in the past. He has already taken more free throws than he did in all of 2011-12. -- Pelton

13. Anthony Davis (19, unranked)
14. Greg Monroe (22, 7th)
15. Ryan Anderson (24, unranked)
16. Nicolas Batum (24, 21st)

17. Thaddeus Young (24, 22nd)

Current: Young is a dynamic athlete who knows his limits -- a rare thing in today's game. Young can have a big impact on an offense because he almost always makes the right decision with the ball or his own movements. Thus, he is a perfect on-court teammate. He also is very good at cutting quickly, and is one of the league's best wing finishers inside 9 feet. Young's quickness helps him close out shooters in time to impact their shot, so he excels at helping and recovering. -- Thorpe

Future: While Young is thought of as a stretch 4, he's almost completely taken the 3-point shot out of his arsenal, and it will be interesting to see if it ever returns. Young made 56 3-pointers in 2008-09, but over the past two seasons he has made only one in five attempts (one so far in 2012-13). He was decent from downtown, making 33.6 percent career. -- Pelton

18. Paul George (22, unranked)
19. DeMarcus Cousins (22, 13th)
20. Brandon Jennings (23, 17th)
21. Damian Lillard (22, unranked)
22. Larry Sanders (24, unranked)
23. DeAndre Jordan (24, unranked)
24. Ed Davis (23, unranked)
25. Eric Bledsoe (23, unranked)

EDIT: They also released the "next 10" of rankings for players under 25. Evan Turner comes in at 28...

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story...players-age-25

26. John Wall (22 years old)
27. Ricky Rubio (22 years old)

28. Evan Turner (24 years old)

After struggling early in his career while playing behind Andre Iguodala, Turner has really blossomed in a point-forward role in Philadelphia. He is an outstanding defensive rebounder for a wing (career defensive rebounding percentage: 19.7), and he is able to use his size and ballhandling ability to create opportunities for both himself and his teammates. This ability to impact the game in more ways than scoring (he's one of just five players to average more than 10.0 points, 6.0 rebounds 4.0 assists per game this season) is what you want to see in a franchise player. His assist percentage has gone up every season in the league, and he has worked diligently at his biggest flaw (shooting) and is now a 40-plus percent 3-point shooter. Ironically, he is as much a jack-of-all-trades player as Iguodala and probably will develop into a similar impact player.

29. Andre Drummond (19 years old)
30. Derrick Favors (21 years old)
31. Eric Gordon (24 years old)
32. Danilo Gallinari (24 years old)
33. Tyreke Evans (23 years old)
34. Klay Thompson (22 years old)
35. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (19 years old)

[bholly]

I'm not really one for rankings, but he's seriously below Faried?

[BChydro86]

Thad will not improve.... Unless he can magically grow 3 inches.

[sixer04fan]

Thad will not improve.... Unless he can magically grow 3 inches.

Even though he's improved this year... That doesn't count? He literally has no chance at improving at the game of basketball, or continuing to improve his strengths/weaknesses? All players peak at 23/24, except for the ones who grow 3+ inches or are already the perfectly ideal size for the position they play?

[sixer04fan]

It's just silly to say that Thad won't improve beyond this point. And I keep hearing it in this forum.

He's 24 years old. It would actually be borderline inexplicable if he didn't keep improving as he got older. He'd probably be the first player in NBA history to max out at age 24, aside from some freak injury or medical problem.

Has the added strength/weight helped him to improve from previous years? Yes, of course. But he's also improved BECAUSE HE'S IMPROVED. He's become better at basketball. Unless you secretly plan on ending his career or life, he will continue to improve.

[BChydro86]

Let me try again...

Thads improvement over the next few years will not benefit the sixers in any major way

[thevcballer]

Thad will not improve.... Unless he can magically grow 3 inches.

There is nothing that wrong with his size there are tons of players thads size or below who have been successful 4s. You would think fans of the sixers would know this better than any seeing as Barkley was an outright beast

[BChydro86]

Thad doesnt crash the board with half of barkleys skill or tenacity

Terrible comparison... If thad could rebound at that level we wouldnt be having thos conversation an thad would have been in the top 10 on thag stupid little list.

[thevcballer]

Thad doesnt crash the board with half of barkleys skill or tenacity

Terrible comparison... If thad could rebound at that level we wouldnt be having thos conversation an thad would have been in the top 10 on thag stupid little list.

It wasn't a skills comparison that should be clear it was a height comparison your first post more or less implied thad is to small to be any good. But rather than make a baseless statement like that try thinking about what that size might actually have given him that he doesn't have now so say rebounding and shot blocking (not always true and mabye not what u mean but lets assume it for arguments sake) what you should have said was if thad cant improve his rebounding or shot blocking he wont improve much in the next few years. That sentence holds meaning.

[adj3369]

derrick rose, number 5? wow. former mvp derrick rose? behind harden? behind blake griffin? wow. he should be 3. if he hadn't got injured, 2.

[2-ONE-5]

anyone notice that of the players in front of Jrue only Irving is younger? Also he should be a ahead of Faried and Lopez (as should Curry). Kinda surprised to see Thad ahead of Davis, Cousins, and George but glad to see him getting respect

[thevcballer]

This list takes Griffin over Love Faried over Holiday and Rose over Harden clearly nothing that this list says is Valid

[BChydro86]

This list takes Griffin over Love Faried over Holiday and Rose over Harden clearly nothing that this list says is Valid

Its not the best list in the world, but u can defend the griffin over love pick because, well, griffin has been much better than love this season.

The faried at 11 is inexcusable.... Id take prob 5-8 guys for this season who were placed under him.

As for rose, its defensable how low he is cause he hasnt played post acl tear.

[sixer04fan]

Its not the best list in the world, but u can defend the griffin over love pick because, well, griffin has been much better than love this season.

The faried at 11 is inexcusable.... Id take prob 5-8 guys for this season who were placed under him.

As for rose, its defensable how low he is cause he hasnt played post acl tear.

My thoughts exactly.

[sixer04fan]

FWIW - They put out "the next 10" beyond the best 25 under 25... Turner comes in at 3rd on the list. I would say that's overrating him just a tad... But then again, I'm sure the other players behind him on the list have looked just as bad and probably much worse at times. We see all of Turner's flaws, but this is just a comparison to other players, whose home fans of their own probably see them struggling a lot as well.