LOS ANGELES – Four Clippers made Sports Illustrated’s list of the top 100 NBA players in 2017, including three Clippers in the top 20, two in the top 10 and one in the top five.
Chris Paul moved up two spots from last year to No. 4, Blake Griffin fell two spots but remained in the top 10 at No. 10, DeAndre Jordan jumped nine spots to No. 20 and J.J. Redick made the biggest jump moving up 34 spots to No. 59 on the top 100.
The Clippers (three) and the Warriors (four) were the only two teams with at least three players in the top 20. The only three players in front of Paul were Cleveland’s LeBron James (No. 1) and Golden State’s Kevin Durant (No. 2) and Stephen Curry (No. 3).
SI’s Ben Golliver and Rob Mahoney provided reasons for each player’s placement on the list. Here’s a look at the full top 100 list. In addition, a list of “biggest snubs” was also compiled, which included Clippers guard Jamal Crawford and 24 other players, including Dallas’ Harrison Barnes, Milwaukee’s Jabari Parker and New York’s Derrick Rose.
In putting together the rankings, SI attempted “to define who will be the league’s best players in the 2016-17 season” and used “no single criterion” to form the list. Rankings were based on a variety of data, “including per-game and per-minute stats, splits, advanced metrics, play-time data and more.”
Here are some snippets of what Golliver and Mahoney had to say about the four Clippers on the top 100 list.
59) J.J. Redick – “There’s no problem at all if J.J. Redick, 32, never has another season as good as his 2015–16 campaign. He was just that good last season, scoring 16.3 points, shooting a league-leading 47.5% from deep, posting a whopping 114 offensive rating per NBAWowy.com and dropping a career-high 17.5 Player Efficiency Rating. L.A. got by for long stretches of the season without All-Star forward Blake Griffin in large part because Redick was the most finely tuned version of his lethal catch-and-shoot self.” - Golliver
20) DeAndre Jordan – “Every year, Jordan seems to clarify his understanding of when and how to use size to his advantage. It’s more difficult to bait him out of position now than it was a year ago—his bad tendencies whittled down through experience…His influence begins with the fact that players prefer not to challenge him. Clippers opponents attempted 3.5 fewer shots at the rim per 36 minutes last season when Jordan played, according to Nylon Calculus—one of the widest margins in the league. Jordan’s liftoff is so quick and his reach so wide that he reshapes the thinking behind an otherwise ideal shot attempt. That’s power—especially now that Jordan is staying down more often and positioning himself more effectively.” – Mahoney
10) Blake Griffin – “…Griffin (21.4 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 4.9 APG) will return as one of the top prospective 2017 free agents, a multitalented forward whose quick, explosive game around the basket has been supplemented in recent years by an active and sophisticated playmaking game that makes use of his basketball intelligence and ball skills. As he’s steadily drifted away from the basket area, to preserve his body and improve his team’s spacing, Griffin has relied more heavily on his improved, but still not lethal, mid-range jumper and his ability to create scoring opportunities with the dribble or pass after squaring up against his man. Although he’s yet to truly experiment with a three-point shot and he’s not a true rim-protector, he remains firmly in the “NBA’s best power forwards” conversation. The five-time All-Star and four-time All-NBA selection returns to the court this fall fully rested, with a Clippers roster that didn’t sustain any truly debilitating off-season departures, and with a chip on his shoulder given how badly last season got away from him. A healthy, comfortable and motivated Griffin in a contract year? That’s still a truly frightening proposition.” – Golliver
4) Chris Paul – Mahoney described Paul’s placement one spot ahead of Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook as “one of the most agonizing debates” in the process, and provided the reasons for listing Paul at No. 4 – namely because of Paul’s control and “cerebral playmaking,” defense, shot selection and accuracy and his ability to run a team.
“It would be perfectly reasonable to digest all of Westbrook’s limitations and still rank him as the superior player. His play is that persuasive. We simply saw Paul as more balanced, more reliable, and more stylistically contributive to the success of his teammates.” - Mahoney