Where should Dennis Smith Jr land on the NBA Starting Point Guard Rankings? (Locked On Mavericks)

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On today’s episode of the Locked On Mavericks Podcast, Isaac and I rank every starting point guard in the NBA. These rankings are our opinion of how PGs will stack up next season. We did not include salary or age (to a degree) into our rankings.

The bolded names are the ones where we had agreement

Somehow my Top 10 was almost exactly the same as NBA 2k18 ratings and I neither own a gaming system or took those ratings into account. It’s frightening how deep this position group is this season. Seven out of my Top 10 were All-Stars last season (Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, John Wall, Kyrie Irving, Isaiah Thomas, Kyle Lowry, Kemba Walker) and two of the three that were not All-Stars are Chris Paul and Damian Lillard. Shesh.

After an almost shot-for-shot Top 13, there were a few places where we had some disagreement—most notably two players...

As we discussed our rankings, I had instant rankers remorse with both Reggie Jackson and Rajon Rondo. Both polarizing figures in their own way and both on downward trajectories in their career. Isaac brought up the comments Andre Drummond and Stan Van Gundy made about Jackson and that when he came back into the lineup it threw off the whole team. Read that article are realize that both Isaac and I were probably too high on Jackson...

Rondo is the worst, not the worst point guard but it’s so hard to quantify how good or bad of a player he is because of all of the extra stuff. Rondo has always been something extra but he really did hand it to the Celtics last year in the playoffs. Recency bias probably overcame my decision and if saying that Rondo is better than 8 other PGs wasn’t bad enough I put him ahead of Dennis Smith Jr... *gulp* ...here we go...

Part of these rankings is fit on the team. By all accounts Rondo is expected to be the Pelicans starting PG this season (hence his inclusion) and he just might be the right fit for a front court of Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins. Neither Rondo or maybe anyone in the history of the league has played with two more talented big men. Could this be the year Rondo pulls it together and doesn’t derail a team? (Yeah, I won’t hold my breath on that either...)

Dennis Smith Jr. comes in at #23 for me because I really do think he’ll be the best point guard in the 2017 Draft. Lonzo Ball will have growing pains with his shot and Markelle Fultz will have to share ball handling duties with was-going-to-be-a-point-guard Ben Simmons. Smith Jr. is going to be starting with a established support players in Wes Matthews and Harrison Barnes—as well as the veteran player Dirk Nowitzki. Not to mention a motivated Nerlens Noel who should have his hands up and open as his wallet was this summer.

Nick Angstadt (Mavs Moneyball) and Isaac Harris (Smoking Cuban) bring you the Locked On Mavericks Podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network.

Five shows a week Nick and Isaac will be discussing the latest Mavericks news and rumors. From inside the locker room, the Locked On Mavs Podcast is an all-access pass to what goes on with your Mavs and the rest of the NBA.

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(We just can’t let the Warriors win more things…)