Ranking the Top 25 Players in the NBA Restart
SI ranks the Top 25 Players in the Orlando Bubble.
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00:00 If I'm ranking the best players headed to the NBA bubble, it goes LeBron James, Kawhi
00:05 Leonard and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
00:07 But who else could make some noise from Orlando?
00:10 For more on that, I'm joined by Michael Shapiro of Inside the Rockets and Corey Parson, the
00:15 Fantasy Executive.
00:16 Michael, let's start with you.
00:17 I mean, obviously, from the Rockets' perspective, there's going to be a lot of eyes on James
00:20 Harden.
00:21 Where do you rank him?
00:22 You know, I had James Harden as the number four player entering the bubble in Orlando.
00:27 Now, that's no slight to him, considering the three guys ahead of him.
00:31 And I think we can't discount the chance of a Harden firestorm kind of leading the Rockets
00:35 toward the NBA finals.
00:36 You know, Harden is, of course, the best scorer in basketball.
00:39 And we saw on a 25-game stretch before Christmas, he averaged nearly 40 points a game.
00:43 So a well-rested Harden could have a true inferno in Orlando and carry the Rockets to
00:48 the finals and make what is truly a historic run here down in Houston.
00:53 Corey, how about you?
00:54 Is there anybody outside of those big four that you think could really shake things up?
00:58 Well, obviously, you mentioned the person in Kawhi Leonard, who definitely has to be
01:01 up there in that mix.
01:03 We've seen his clutch, Gene.
01:04 We know what he does in these situations.
01:05 Now, you get him healthy and well-rested.
01:07 But look at his teammate and his partner in Paul George.
01:10 Paul George is playing at an excellent pace so far this year, not to mention last year
01:13 before he got hurt with that shoulder injury, Paul George was looking like an MVP candidate.
01:18 Last year, this time, they made the big announcement to bring this team together.
01:21 Now they get a chance to get down to Orlando and see what it's really about.
01:24 Also, I wouldn't sleep so much on the Toronto Raptors.
01:27 I know everybody's talking about the Milwaukee Bucks, but listen, that Raptor team is very
01:31 well coached by Nick Nurse, and they have a great player in Pascal Siakam.
01:35 Siakam's averaging 23 points this season.
01:37 He is fully healthy.
01:38 He already has a championship pedigree.
01:41 So I would watch out for Pascal Siakam as an undervalued guy that's going down in that
01:45 bubble that could make some big noise.
01:47 You did bring up a good point, though.
01:48 The co-stars may play a really important role, right?
01:51 How good can Chris Middleton be?
01:53 You mentioned Paul George, Russell Westbrook next to James Harden, and of course, Anthony
01:56 Davis with LeBron James.
01:58 Corey, Michael, appreciate your time.
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