ESPN has dropped the first stage of their top 100 players list, and the Miami Heat feature two players in the first section, counting down from 100 to 51.
Yearly ranking lists are major sources of debate (and it gets heated) as we get closer to the beginning of the NBA season. ESPN has begun to release their top 100 player list, starting from 100 and counting down to 51, and a couple of Miami Heat players made their way into this earliest stage of the process.
While these players are both in the lower echelons of this list, they both improved their standing in it from last year. Appearing first is Justise Winslow, who checks in at 94th, a touch better than his 96th placing of a year ago.
ESPN utilized projected RPM wins as a metric to forecast each player’s performance and ranking, and Winslow is projected for 3.3 RPM wins.
Kevin Pelton wrote of Winslow’s upcoming season:
"The Jimmy Butler trade did come at a cost to Miami’s depth. Of the seven Heat players who logged more than 1,200 minutes last season, just three — Winslow, Bam Adebayo and Kelly Olynyk — will return. So, Miami is counting on them, along with healthy comebacks from veterans Goran Dragic, James Johnson and Dion Waiters, who combined to miss 102 games due to injuries in 2018-19."
We aren’t even sure what position Justise Winslow will play or whether he will start next season, so ESPN can be forgiven for perhaps a lower ranking simply because he can be difficult to evaluate. Hopefully, he’ll put forth a season which could justify a bigger leap in next year’s list.
Next on the list is Bam Adebayo, who checks in at 81. Last season he did not qualify for the list, but supplanting Hassan Whiteside in the Miami Heat starting lineup and making him completely expendable sure seems to have gone a long way for his perceived value.
As for his projected RPM, Adebayo checks in at 3.8.
ESPN’s Zach Lowe wrote about Adebayo:
"Adebayo is a legit starter — hoppy, fast, a smart passer with growing confidence in his elbow jumper."
High praise indeed from the chief scribe of NBA writers.
With half the top 100 players already in the books, we’ve got more yet to come. We’ll report further as ESPN drops the rest of their rankings.