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*Click here to listen to today’s episode
On today’s episode of the Locked On Mavericks Podcast, Isaac and I rank every starting shooting guard in the NBA. These rankings are our opinion of how SGs will stack up next season. We did not include salary or age (to a degree) into our rankings.
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The bolded names are the ones where we had agreement
There are a few teams that have uncertainty at the 2-guard position—especially when it comes to choosing a starter (*cough* Memphis). We decided on Andrew Wiggins for the Timberwolves and Buddy Hield for the Kings because that’s who we assume we start opening night. Even though, by the end of the season, that might not be the case.
The first name that stands out is Isaac’s inclusion of Devin Booker at #3, above DeMar DeRozan, Bradley Beal, CJ McCollum, and others; while I had him ranked at #9 on my list. Devin Booker is going to become one of those polarizing players in the League. Everyone is going to either think Booker is incredible or just a good-stats-bad-team players that chucks up shots. I believe #9 is a fair compromise of the two camps.
The biggest discrepancy between the two of us was discussed at length on the podcast. Isaac had Gary Harris at #12 above Wes Matthews and I had Harris (Gary, not Isaac) at #24. If we’re just looking at next year I believe there is more the players above Harris can offer. However, I would not be surprised if I Harris (again, Gary, not Isaac) proves me wrong.
Another difference was our opinion on Rodney Hood; Isaac ranked him at #25 while I had him at #16. Someone has to score on the Jazz next year. Rubio is good for 10-15 points, same with Gobert, Favors might average more, same with Ingles, but the one player that has a higher variance is Hood. He will have every opportunity in the world to prove he is worth that #16 spot.
As far as Wes Matthews is concerned, somehow we both had him ranked right at #13 (we did not discuss before recording the podcast) which is still an above average position. If Wes has the kind of bounce back season we expect he could raise even higher on this list—as we discussed on the podcast.
As the very end of the episode we wondered where Seth Curry would fit into this list if we were to start instead of Matthews. We both concluded right around the 20-23 spot which is where we had Dennis Smith Jr. on yesterdays Point Guard Rankings.
Nick Angstadt (Mavs Moneyball) and Isaac Harris (Smoking Cuban) bring you the Locked On Mavericks Podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network.
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(We just can’t let the Warriors win more things…)