1) Salaries matter. Would you rather pay Nikola Vucevic $12 million a year or LaMarcus Aldridge $27 million?
2) Age matters. Would you rather have LeBron James for the next three seasons or Gustave Lecroix for the next 12?
3) Contract length matters
4) Pretend the league passed the following rule: For 24 hours, any player can be traded without cap ramifications, but with luxury-tax and next-day-cap ramifications. If Team A tells Team B, “We’ll trade you Player X for Player Y,” would Team B make the deal?
5) Concentrate on degrees. For instance, a Nikola Jokic-Rudy Gay swap ain’t happening, but Milwaukee would at least say, “Wow, Jokic is available?” while NYK would say, “We can’t trade Jokic for someone who’s nine years older.” That counts in the big scheme of things.
6) This list runs in reverse order. If Jokic is no. 14, then players 1 through 13 are all players about whom Inner would either say, “We hate giving up Jokic, but let’s have a think about it seriously,” or, “Done! Call this deal in!” And NYK likely wouldn’t trade him straight-up for any player listed between nos. 15 and 50.
7/8/17: Before we start, I have 66 players ranked. I'll be posting them whenever I have time over the next week or so. Today, we'll start with those who just missed the cut.
JUST MISSED THE CUT
The "You're giving me Star A. I'll give you Quasi-Star B and _____" Group
In these 3 guys, you got players with some solid potentials and some decent contracts, but they're really not going to make or break your team. They're excellent to have at a bargain deal, but honestly, you can find guys who can give you 75% of what any of these 3 give you day 2 of free agency every year, and you'll get them cheaper. Their colors are pretty though, and they're great glue guys to have, but, most importantly, their blue potential and their contract makes them great secondary pieces in trades.Jeremy Lamb: Lamb's a 23 year old G/B SG making just 7-8 million the next 3 years. He has at least B potentials in all scoring abilities + perimeter D, but he hasn't quite hit his potentials and is only getting 10 minutes per game right now.
Harrison Barnes: Barnes is on the last year of his rookie contract, and has at least B potentials in all scoring abilities with high C's in defense. He's a nice player to have, but is at risk to get paid in RFA.
Jrue Holiday: Holiday rebounded from a bad start in his career in TC. He's now a guy who can score, pass, and defend at a pretty good level. His athleticism holds him back from being a star, but he's a very nice #4 on a contender on a really good contract.
Yeah he's really good... but he's expiring
Here, we have our guys who are right below that star tier, but they're expiring. They're the guys teams that are going all-in jump at for the chance to win the championship, but don't have as much value as their talent lets on simply because they're at risk to get paid the next summer.Ryan Anderson: Anderson is the best stretch 4 not named Kevin Love in Sim League. That stretch 4 is so valuable in our league: you can always find guys 1-3 who can stroke it, but Anderson is not only an elite 3 point shooter, he can score from everywhere and can defend. He falls behind these next 2 guys simply becasue his contract is so much larger right now.
Danilo Gallinari: Gallinari exploded onto the scene last year, and he's a fantastic scorer on an absolute bargain contract right now. But he is looking at a massive raise next season, and he'll be 28 next season. It's very possible he'd be a 1-year rental.
Spencer Hawes: Hawes was arguably the best free agent this past offseason, but was overlooked and inked a small 4 million dollar contract with Sacramento. He's the epitome of a one-year rental as he wouldn't even come with bird rights so he's a 4 million dollar star that you make your run with then drop.
That's a pretty good contract for being a borderline star
This is the group of guys who are young, pretty good players with very solid potentials, have multiple years left on their contracts, and are each considerably below the max. These are guys who, if there was a free agency right now, no one would be surprised if these guys picked up a max. No they don't massively outperform their contracts, but they're all probably slightly underpaid, and a medium-sized good contract is rare.Bismack Biyombo: His potentials lead you to believe he's a max contract player, but he's still far away from his potentials. He's likely a guy who's a bit overpaid right now, but will be pretty underpaid in the last year or 2 of his deal.
Darren Collison: Collison's probably the best player of this bunch, but he's also the oldest and only has 2 years left on his deal. His production and ratings are max-level, but he's making less than 20 million. It's not a huge bargain, but it's definitely nice to have.
Nikola Vucevic: Guys with Vucevic's potential in inside, rebounding, and post defense usually get maxed. He probably wouldn't deserve a max, but he certainly deserves the 12 million he's making right now.
Brandon Jennings: Jennings gets the nod because he's already producing at his potentials, is only 26, and still has 2 years left on his deal. He can do a little bit of everything like Jrue Holiday, but Jennings is a much more effective scorer.
He's getting a max, and yes, he's worth it... but I'd prefer not to pay him it
These are the guys who are getting a max, and while no one would deny they're worth a max, most GMs are fine letting someone else being the one to pay them that contract. Their trade value is usually a little sporadic. Some would view them as contracts they wouldn't want, but it only takes one GM to fall in love, and there's certainly a lot to fall in love with.Greg Monroe: Monroe gifted the then-Hornets with a massive jump in TC, and he fits this category perfectly. Monroe's potentials and colors make GMs drool, but his production simply isn't there. Maybe he'll get there, and with his potentials, he'd get a max every time in UFA, but he just may never live up to that contract.
Enes Kanter: Kanter's got the potentials to be an offensive and defensive force, and that's why he was paid essentially a max contract. He could be an absolutely elite rebounder and defender, but when you look at his stats, like Monroe, he's just not there (at least yet).
LaMarcus Aldridge: Aldridge gets the nod in this group because he actually is a very good scorer. He lands on this list because, while he's a very good player, his rebounding is good-not-great, and his scoring is usually somewhat efficient, but not hyper-efficient like the other 20-25 PPG scorers in our league. He's also 30 with 3 seasons of a max contract remaining.
Yeah he's a blue rookie contract, and I like him... but I'm not thrilled
Here, we got 3 rookie contracts, and each is a pretty good player, but none are max-level. They're guys who'll likely be overpaid in RFA, but they each have an attractive skill set potential-wise, and any blue potential rookie contract is worth a lot in this league. They probably don't net you a big big fish, but they can still pull in something attractive.Dario Saric: Saric is an interesting case because he has nice potentials in inside, 3 pt, passing, defensive rebounding, and post D. That's a little bit of everything, and that's pretty valuable. But he feels very much like a guy who might end up with a career average of 12 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 4.5 assists which is solid but nothing that really gets you excited.
Van Grimaldi: Grimaldi gets the edge over Saric because he's got the potential to be a very nice secondary scorer who can put up near 20 a game in his prime as an inside focused option. He'll never be that elite inside scorer he projected to be coming out of the draft, but scorers are valuable in this league, and people will pony up for them.
Andre Drummond: Drummond earns the top spot in this group because his defense and rebounding is incredibly valuable in our league where nearly every contender has a center who dominates the boards and protects the rim. He's about to get a massive contract in RFA, but his potentials likely warrant one.
THE TOP 50 ASSETS IN SIM LEAGUE
I get he's an elite point guard, but he's 30 and on a supermax
It's very hard to contend in our league without a really good point guard. In these 2, you have 2 point guards who are great passers and defenders. The problem: they're each about 30 and on a huge deal for multiple more seasons, and, as we've seen, those types of players help you win but don't always command the trade value their talent merits.50) Rajon Rondo: Rondo has been the league leader in both assists and steals at one point in his career. He's one of the 2-3 best passers and defenders at the point guard position. He's 29 though and will turn 30 during the season. After this season, he'll still have 3 more seasons at a supermax contract, and that last season could be tough if he's no longer an elite defender.
49) Chris Paul: Paul doesn't quite have the passing and defense of Rondo, but he's no slouch there and Paul brings the ability to score. Paul brings the same issues as Rondo except he's a year older. He'll turn 31 at the end of this season and will get hammered the next 3 seasons in TC on a supermax deal.
Yeah he'll never be a superstar, but that's a damn good player on a rookie contract
Here, we have that tier of player where, when they mature, they're going to be great, top 30-40 players in the league. They're probably looking at a max in RFA given our league's history, but you probably don't have a problem paying them that. Plus, they're all already pretty good and all so young that they carry a ton of value in our league.48) Gary Harris: Our reigning rookie of the year is a 3 and D shooting guard in Harris. He falls behind the rest of this tier in that he doesn't have the scoring ability of the next 2, and doesn't have the defensive anchor potential of Embiid. Harris is a guy whose contract will determine his value. He's probably not worth a max in a vacuum, but his skill set is valuable, and he's only a second year player.
47) Jabari Parker: Parker narrowly edges Harris as he has more scoring potential than Gary. Parker will likely be a 20 point per game scorer in his prime, and he has 3 years left on his rookie deal. He's already the most developed of this group, but his problem is he doesn't bring much else to the table outside of scoring.
46) Bradley Beal: Beal looks like a Wes Matthews clone. He can score inside and out (with a 100 3 point rating!) and can defend too. That's a max level player. If he hadn't been hit in TC this year, he'd likely rank higher on this list. Additionally, he'll be getting a max contract in RFA after this season.
45) Joel Embiid: Embiid lands the top spot of this group because he has the potential to be that defensive and rebounding anchor who can be a secondary scorer on a team as well. He's another guy who still has 3 years left on his rookie deal, but he only has B potential in PSD and C in ORB so that's what keeps him from being higher on this list.
No he's not a superstar, but he's absolutely worth a max, and I'd be happy to be the one to pay him it
Here we got guys either on a max or very close to it. They're all worth their respective contracts, all at a good age where they're still pretty valuable, and are really good players to have as your #2 or #3 guy on a contending team.44) Jimmy Butler: Butler is the one guy here who we could argue may not be worth a max, but he simply produces. He scores over 20 a game efficiently, and he defends. He's an athletic freak, and is actually being paid slightly less than the max. But he's a guy many around the league are scared of because of his potentials (or lack thereof).
43) Ty Lawson: Lawson falls behind these next 3 guys simply because he's older (or not as valuable as Wes Matthews). Another do-it-all point guard, Lawson lands above Collison and Brandon Jennings from prior because, even though he only has 2 years left on his max deal and is 29, he's scoring nearly 20 a game with over 8 assists and solid defense. That's borderline elite for a point guard.
42) Kemba Walker: Kemba is a do-it-all point who's not as good as Lawson right now but is 4 years younger. He also has the potential to be an even better scorer than Lawson, but he'll always be a good-not-great passer and defender in our league.
41) Stephen Curry: Curry probably deserves to be a bit higher, but this article is about trade value, and that color next to a player's name is a huge factor with regards to how much perceived value a player has. But Curry's still an absolutely elite shooter and just won Finals MVP, and we just saw on the actual market how much value he has.
40) Wes Matthews: Matthews gets the nod in this group as he's just an absolutely gifted shooter who can score in so many ways. And, of course, if you have a 100 in 3 point rating and can defend, your value is insane. He is 29 and not a superstar, but he's just about everything you can ask for in a #2 star.
He's no star, but that contract is absolutely sick
39) Iman Shumpert: Iman Shumpert is the definition of a 3 and D guy with A potentials (and already upper B-A ratings), and he's on an absolute steal of a contract. He's not even making 10 million this year and is locked in for 4 years. He's a guy every single team in the league would kill for, and while he's not as good as some of the guys behind him, his contract makes him worth it.Guys I'm not looking to move but develop and only moved under the right (trape) deal...
38) Isiah Thomas37) Gordon Hayward
36) Damian Lillard
35) Kyrie Irving
34) Blake Griffin
33) CJ McCollum
32) Victor Oladipo
I'm contending, so he's probably worth more to me than he is to you
31) Al Horford30) Hassan Whiteside
29) Chris Bosh
28) Kyle Lowry
27) Ricky Rubio
26) Rudy Gay
The All-NBA guy who's 30 making 30 million
25) Josh Smith24) LeBron James
23) Deron Williams
We like him too much to put him on the block... he's part of our future
22) Otto Porter Jr.21) Damion McNary
We're so bad right now that draft picks are off the table
20) Orlando Magic 2016 First19) Charlotte Bobcats 2016 First
The rookie contracts who are future All-Stars
18) Harland Ellinger17) Rudy Gobert
16) Andrew Wiggins
15) Draymond Green
14) Nikola Jokic
The current stars that are still just 25-27
13) James Harden12) Klay Thompson
11) John Wall
10) DeAndre Jordan
Rookie Superstars
9) Gustave Lecroix8) Jeffrey Duren
Point Gods
7) Derrick Rose6) Russell Westbrook
Too young and too good: untradeable
5) Giannis Antetokounmpo4) Paul George
The greatest players of this generation... and still in they're prime
3) Kevin Durant2) Kevin Love
"You can choose any 5 picks/players on my team" "Not a chance"
1) Anthony Davis
but also Otto. Just my two cents.