ESPN Releases Top 51-100 NBA Players for 2020-21 (1 MGoNoteworthy Player)
ESPN has ranked their top 100 players for the upcoming season and released 100 to 51 this morning.
Paywalled Link (The Disney Plus package with HULU and ESPN+ is worth considering)
Duncan Robinson checked in at #75. The extraordinary story behind his journey is not lost on any of us so I'm just throwing logs on a well established fire but... who would have ever thought back when he was wearing Maize and Blue that he would ever be listed as one of the top 75 players in the NBA?
From the article:
Swing skill: Robinson is the kind of lights-out shooter most NBA players think they can be. The difference is Robinson shot 44.6% from beyond the arc last season and has a virtual green light. The Heat know his long-range talent spaces out the court for everybody else and are hopeful the rest of his game continues to develop. -- Nick Friedell
Before opening the article, I wouldn't have been surprised to see Caris on the list and I probably would have him ahead of Duncan based on his ceiling. However, he wasn't in the bottom 50. Joe Harris was 100 and Jarett Allen was 94. Irving and Durant will be top 50. Caris would be the 5th Brooklyn Net on the list. So either ESPN thinks highly of Caris' potential for next season or not very much at all.
If ESPN follows what they did for recent previous seasons, they will next release 50-31, then 30-11, and finally the top 10.
Disclaimer: I am not much of an NBA fan but I am very much a fan of following past U of M players.
December 8th, 2020 at 11:54 AM ^
I would guess Caris LeVert is ranked around 30-40
December 8th, 2020 at 11:55 AM ^
Caris will definitely be in the top 50. Some articles I read said KD and Kyrie did not want him traded. He's all-star material when healthy.
December 8th, 2020 at 11:58 AM ^
If KD and Kyrie finish that sentence with "...for Harden" then they're not getting the bearded one. There's no one else on the roster that Houston would want in exchange.
December 8th, 2020 at 11:57 AM ^
Very happy for Duncan and for all the Michigan NBA players. Extremely proud that the vast majority of guys we sent to the league have found a role and managed to stay in the league long term instead of fizzling out. Juwan is primed to keep the pipeline running and it's worth pointing out that in the last decade, Michigan has been THE big ten destination for NBA prep with the most guys sent to the league in the conference. Thank God for Michigan basketball
December 8th, 2020 at 12:42 PM ^
These rankings are absurdly bad. I'm not even a huge NBA follower, but wow, they're terrible
December 8th, 2020 at 1:47 PM ^
Especially considering there are only 150 starters in the NBA. That would be like the Big 10 announcing the top 50 players in the Big 10.
December 8th, 2020 at 3:46 PM ^
If you don’t follow the NBA how do you have any idea if the list is accurate or not? Also of personal curiosity why do people who don’t like the nba always feel the need to chime in just to tell everyone they don’t follow the nba? I don’t see this with any other league. It’s like you just have to peek your heads in the room to tell everyone you don’t follow the nba
December 8th, 2020 at 1:24 PM ^
Thanks for the post. Good for Robinson.
December 8th, 2020 at 1:38 PM ^
ESPN had Caris 60th last year so he’ll be top 50 most likely.
December 8th, 2020 at 1:45 PM ^
I still wonder why Beilein didn't try to set Robinson up for more looks while he was here. I know he struggled shooting his senior year, but I wonder if Michigan had made him more of a focus rather than just a "kick-out option if the play breaks down" if he would have had more success.
I know, Michigan finished the season on a 14-1 run and made the title game, so obviously Beilein did a fantastic job overall. But Robinson's talent obviously didn't shine through his senior season.
December 8th, 2020 at 1:58 PM ^
Beilein has been asked about this and said that he should have done more for Duncan. However, if you followed Duncan's first year in the NBA/GLeague, you'd know how instrumental that year was for his development and it's a testament to how amazing the Heat's player development is. Duncan basically had to relearn what a good NBA shot was and how to get open to shoot them.
December 8th, 2020 at 2:10 PM ^
Here's the list. A couple jump out to me as batshit crazy (Ball, Griffin, DeRozan, Herro, Gasol) but these lists are really hard to come up with.