Ranking the Top 100-51 players in the NBA
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00:00The SI Top 100 is here ranking the 100 best players in the NBA and it's architect Jeremy
00:09Wu joins me now and Jeremy we're going to go through everybody outside of the top 50
00:14right now starting with number 51 John Wall very interesting player this season because
00:19you know he's on the Houston Rockets and a new team do you think there's room for him
00:24to get back into that top 50 you know I'll say from doing this wall was one of the toughest
00:28players to place we moved him around a couple times it's hard to know what we're going to
00:34see from him just knowing that he's been unavailable he's been injured he's coming off an Achilles
00:38injury obviously very tough when you're a player who is as reliant on his speed as well
00:44has always been so obviously Houston is hoping to get the old wall back I don't know exactly
00:53what we will see from him reports seem to be good but it seemed like a reasonable place
00:57to hedge you know obviously the wall of old is a top 50 player no doubt you know right
01:02now it's sort of wait and see mode and then factor in it's not clear what the fit will
01:07be in Houston you know he's a he's a tough player to place but we settled on 51 that
01:12felt fair to me another you know player that stood out to me looking down the list was
01:16Marcus Saul at 85 who I have a lot of respect for over his career a gifted passer brilliant
01:22player was a great defender but you know that was a little higher than I expected to be
01:27honest you know what made you place him still out inside the top 100 when he's clearly outside
01:33of his prime when we do this list you know it's always been you know how do we evaluate
01:38these players purely for next season so you know we don't really rank rookies younger
01:43guys with you know bright futures sometimes don't rank as high as maybe we think they
01:48should right away just because we're looking at the short term Gasol is still very useful
01:55and you saw it last year in the playoffs with Toronto you know he's been part of really
01:59relevant teams his whole career and his you know just defensively knowing where to be
02:05his passing his ability to shoot I think he adds value particularly you know situationally
02:11that doesn't always show up in his raw numbers and he's gonna be a really important player
02:17for the Lakers I think you know the hope is that you know his ability to space the floor
02:21will be valuable in a way that you know the JaVale McGee Dwight Howard platoon you know
02:27wasn't at times they were very good defensively last year but I think Gasol just gives them
02:31more dimensionality so he's a player who I still think has real value he's definitely
02:35moving down the list but we weren't ready to drop him all the way off yet there's another
02:39one of his teammates that didn't make the list that I think some people might say should
02:42have been on there maybe even above him and that's Dennis Schroeder for what he did in
02:46Oklahoma City last year why didn't he qualify yeah Schroeder to his credit I think really
02:52did rehab his own value last year with OKC you know he fit really well he proved that
02:58he was willing to come off the bench and could be more efficient I think playing with Chris
03:03Paul and being able to be more of like a combo of shooting guard helped him a lot I think
03:08playing with LeBron will have some of that same effect this year but you know as a matter
03:13of fact you know when it comes down to really like 75 through 125 or whatever if you wanted
03:18to go that even that far down it's very close and you know ultimately with Schroeder I think
03:22the pre-OKC sample there was enough inconsistency with him as a shooter and just as a guy who
03:28sometimes isn't all the way checked in where you know I was he was close he almost made
03:33the list he was one of the last guys we cut but obviously could return that type of value
03:37one other player who I thought maybe could have you know taken some consideration for
03:41the top 100 was Andrew Wiggins you know simply because of now he's in a situation in Golden
03:45State where we may see him you just talked about it with with Schroeder rehabilitate
03:50his career if you will you just didn't think he was there yet yeah on last year's list
03:56he was number 100 on our rankings so you know did he get better did he get worse did he
04:00stagnate I don't think he ultimately did enough to keep that spot just because you know we've
04:05had many years of this from from Wiggins now where he puts up a lot of points he's never
04:10particularly efficient his teams don't really win and this is kind of a proven year for
04:15him in Golden State where they are now leaning on him particularly with Klay Thompson out
04:21to prove that he is more than than what he's been but you know what I took the same approach
04:25with the list where he missed the cut you know hopefully he does take that step that
04:30everyone's been waiting for for so long but I don't think we can necessarily bank on it
04:34and so he was just off the list well we'll see if he makes it next year but we'll also
04:38see what's inside the the top 50 coming up here soon Jeremy I appreciate your time man