With all the teams out, and not very close playoff games, might as well continue with the rankings.
For the ranking, assume you are picking the players going into next season, but you only having them for 1 season.

Again, to get something going (2 players used for each team), and very open to debate as there are 9 pretty strong guys, but no superstud.

Rudy Gay
Caron Butler*
Trevor Ariza
Shane Battier
Peja Stojakovic
Richard Jefferson
Shawn Marion
Ronnie Brewer
James Posey
Keith Bogans

FWIW, the SG rankings: http://www.texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=1622177&forum_id=52 and the PG rankings: http://www.texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=1619925&forum_id=52

*Butler was originally put in the SG rankings, and wasn't going to be in these, but he should be.

Battier is better than Ariza.

Sean Elliott FTW.

Actually I just posted that as a joke, but then when I started looking at the list, I probably would actually take Elliott in his prime over any of those guys. But that's another discussion. Sorry...

Ariza vs. Battier depends on the team surrounding them. 08-09 type of team for the Rockets? I'm taking Battier over Ariza. Team as constructed last season where there wasn't as much talent? Give me Ariza as he's capable of much more offensively and a better individual defender than Battier. I'd still take Battier as a better overall team defender.

buck johnson.... legend!!!!

I disagree:

From 82games.com
Let's look at the difference between Offensive points per possession and Defensive points per possession (multiplied by 100 for possessions per game) and how often they won the time on the court based on how they played with the starters from the end of the year last year.

Playing with... Brooks, Martin, Scola, Hayes
Ariza: 251 Minutes, (103-104) = -2, 31.2%
Battier: 110 Minutes, (115-92) = +23, 88.8%

This is why I don't like people just asserting that Battier is some kind of throwaway player. He obviously has a lot of value that sometimes can't be directly observed by the casual fan, but that always seems to show up in wins and efficiency. Don't know what it is about him, but he's still the better player right now.

Note: The offense is more efficient with Battier on the court. Ariza plays at a lower efficiency than Battier (48% vs 54% True Shooting Percentage) and takes more bad shots.

From the fingers of Hollinger:

quote:

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Thanks to his passing and careful ballhandling, he placed third among small forwards in assist ratio and fourth in pure point rating.

Battier shot only 45.7 percent on his forays inside the arc, but he drove more to get contact than to get a basket and managed a decent free-throw rate despite all the 3s he tossed.

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[This message has been edited by HotardAg07 (edited 5/18/2010 2:42p).]

Again, hard to argue with that list. I'd probably flip Richard Jefferson and Peja. Despite RJ's performance last year I still think he's a good player. It's hard to find a niche when you're the new addition alongside 3 guys who all demand the ball in their iron-clad roles. Peja is more one-demensional but he is a stone cold assassin from 3pt range. He's been injury-bitten though.