Rather than attempting to rank every player, which is as impossible as it is unnecessary, Ben Golliver and Rob Mahoney over at SI.com have put together a Top 100 ranking of NBA players going into 2017-18, of which three Trail Blazers have made the cut.
First, there's center Jusuf Nurkić, who comes in at No. 69 thanks in large part to his play after being acquired via trade from the Denver Nuggets in February...
Nurkić is ranked directly ahead of Charlotte's Cody Zeller at No. 70 and behind Indiana's Myles Turner at No. 68. Nurkić is also ranked ahead of players like Orlando's Nikola Vucevic, our old pal Robin Lopez, Dallas' Nerlens Noel, reigning Sixth Man of the Year Eric Gordon, Chicago's Dwyane Wade and Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki. Not bad for a guy who was all but forgotten prior to arriving in Portland just over six months ago.
Next up is CJ McCollum, who comes in 30 spots ahead of Nurkić at No. 39...
McCollum finds himself sandwiched between two other combo guards in the ranking, with Cleveland's Isaiah Thomas coming in at No. 40 and Phoenix's Eric Bledsoe making the list at No. 38. One could certainly quibble about some of the players directly ahead of McCollum, but again, that probably gives these lists more importance than they deserve.
Finally, we come to Damian Lillard, who breaks the Top 20 by coming in at No. 17...
Lillard makes the list directly ahead of Memphis' Mike Conley, another point guard who doesn't get the All-Star consideration he deserves, at No. 18 and ahead of Boston's Gordon Hayward at No. 16. Lillard's rank is better than the likes of Marc Gasol, Kyrie Irving, DeMarcus Cousins, Kyle Lowry and Klay Thompson, so again, it's hard to get too bent out of shape even though you could make a case for Lillard over multiple players with higher rankings.