Last week, Ben Golliver and Rob Mahoney at Sports Illustrated put together their list of the Top 100 players going into the 2018-19 season, a list that included four Trail Blazers. And now the folks at ESPN have finished up their Top 100, with the same four Trail Blazers making that list as well. What's more, the order of those four players is the same and the rankings are in the same general range on both lists, so if you're looking for a national consensus option regarding how four-fifths of Portland's starting lineup stacks up to the rest of the NBA, you've come to the right place.
Here's how the Trail Blazers came out on ESPN's Top 100.
• First up (literally) is Al-Farouq Aminu, who just makes the list at No. 100 after being unranked last year...
Al-Farouq Aminu is directly ahead of whichever player ended up just outside of the Top 100 and directly behind Orlando guard Evan Fournier at No. 99.
• Next up, center Jusuf Nurkić, who comes in at No. 75, more than 30 spots worse thank his ranking at the start of the 2017-18 season...
Nurkić makes the ranking directly ahead of Brooklyn guard Spencer Dinwiddie at No. 75 and right behind Toronto guard Fred VanVleet at No. 74.
• Now onto the backcourt. First up, CJ McCollum, who slightly improved his ranking this season at No. 30...
McCollum comes in just ahead of Phoenix guard Devin Booker at No. 31 and just behind Washington's Bradley Beale at No. 29.
• Last but not least, we come to Damian Lillard, who made a significant jump to No. 10 in this year's ranking after coming in at No. 18 at this time last year...
Lillard makes the Top 10 just ahead of Houston guard Chris Paul at No. 11 and is just behind Philadelphia center Joel Embiid at No. 9.