Let's say that the 16 playoff teams have to re-draft for the playoffs, with every player in the league being available. At the end of the playoffs, every team reverts back to their original team. What would the first round look like?

1. LeBron/Durant
2. LeBron/Durant
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.

Where does a guy like Duncan go? Is there a consensus third-best player in the league?

Top 5
James
Durant
CP3
Westbrook
Griffin maybe?

I feel like Anthony Davis belongs in that group. Noah would probably go higher than expected.

Not sure where I'd take Carmelo or a guy like Steph Curry.

Melo isn't making playoffs

Every player in the league is available.

Melo is the most unclutch player ever. He wouldn't make my top ten

It depends on which team has each pick. For example, Pop would love Noah but wouldn't love Howard.

The Warriors lose nothing in their current offense by having Harden.

It all depends on the coach and the role players.

BTW this would be the worst playoffs ever because no team would have chemistry.

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Melo is the most unclutch player ever. He wouldn't make my top ten

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And this. Melo being the current most selfish player (msp) he wouldn't be a first round guy.

Here is the top 20 from ESPN's list this summer. Not saying that is how you would draft because given the abundance of point guards, guys like Howard, Gasol, Blake & KLove become more valuable. Melo is at #15.

1. LBJ
2. KD
3. CP360
4. Harden
5. Westbrook
6. Curry
7. Howard
8. Kyrie
9. Rose
10. M. Gasol

11. KLove
12. Parker
13. Paul George
14. Blake
15. Melo

16. Duncan
17. LaMarcus
18. DWade
19. Horford
20. DWill


http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9841623/2013-nba-player-rankings-11-15

Westbrook lol
Rose lol

Anthony Davis would be #3 for me. Kid is a freak.

You think Anthony Davis is the 3rd best player in the nba

Popovich at #3

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You think Anthony Davis is the 3rd best player in the nba

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If I'm drafting a team from scratch, he is the third player I take. Young, talented rookie contract, etc

Anthony Davis has to at least be in the discussion for #3 player in the league. If you are drafting and keeping for the future, then I think he is the obvious #3. But even if you are only drafting for 1 year, I think he is in the discussion.

Looks like several need to work on their reading.

Curry, Harden, Howard, George, Davis, CP3, Melo, Davis, Love, Westbrook, and The Marcus all have solid arguments for picks 3-16.

What if the 16 playoff teams could draft one player each from the non-playoff teams to add to their existing roster?

[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 3/24/2014 2:16p).]

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What if the 16 playoff teams could draft one player each from the non-playoff teams to add to their existing roster?

Rockets go with Kyrie to replace Bev or Love/Melo to replace Jones.
[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 3/24/2014 2:16p).]

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You think Anthony Davis is the 3rd best player in the nba

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If I'm drafting a team from scratch, he is the third player I take. Young, talented rookie contract, etc

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Are we drafting teams from scratch or for one playoff run?

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What if the 16 playoff teams could draft one player each from the non-playoff teams to add to their existing roster?

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I like this idea a lot, and as long as we're dabbling in hypotheticals, what do y'all think of this?

1) Any player 32 years old and above with at least 1 career All-Star appearance whose team does not make the playoffs that year may opt out of his contract at the end of the regular season and be picked up by any of the playoff teams.
2) Each playoff team can sign X amount of these guys based on their playoff seed (1 seeds can sign 1, 4 seeds can sign up to 4, etc), but they have to make corresponding moves to keep existing players off their playoff roster.
3) The catch is, following the end of that particular playoff team's season, the players who signed with them for the playoff run must retire and can never play in the NBA again. If you go out a champion, so be it, but if you get bounced in the first round, that's it.

Obviously the NBA would never go for it, but it could make for compelling television.

At #3, I'm taking either CP3 or Anthony Davis (even though it's only for this year).

You're not winning a championship with Curry, Harden, or Westbrook as your main guy. I'd rather go with a big guy and find a scorer in the second round.

Love is intriguing, but at some point you have to start winning games.

Howard is a shell of his former self, but he takes care of a tough to fill Center position, so he moves up the board. Same with Noah.

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At #3, I'm taking either CP3 or Anthony Davis (even though it's only for this year).

You're not winning a championship with Curry, Harden, or Westbrook as your main guy. I'd rather go with a big guy and find a scorer in the second round.

Love is intriguing, but at some point you have to start winning games.

Howard is a shell of his former self, but he takes care of a tough to fill Center position, so he moves up the board. Same with Noah.

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You aren't winning with CP3 as your best player either. He's made it to the 2nd round once. (Twice?). At least Melo has been to the WCF. Harden has experience in the finals too even though that was KD's team. Davis is going to be great and take his team deep. However he's not quite there yet.

[This message has been edited by Aggie1906 (edited 3/24/2014 4:34p).]

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You aren't winning with CP3 as your best player either. He's made it to the 2nd round once. (Twice?). At least Melo has been to the WCF. Harden has experience in the finals too even though that was KD's team. Davis is going to be great and take his team deep. However he's not quite there yet.

[This message has been edited by Aggie1906 (edited 3/24/2014 4:34p).]

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So who are you taking?

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You aren't winning with CP3 as your best player either. He's made it to the 2nd round once. (Twice?). At least Melo has been to the WCF. Harden has experience in the finals too even though that was KD's team. Davis is going to be great and take his team deep. However he's not quite there yet.

[This message has been edited by Aggie1906 (edited 3/24/2014 4:34p).]

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So who are you taking?

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One of Irving, Curry, Harden, Howard, George, Davis, CP3, Melo, Davis, Love, Westbrook, or The Marcus.

I'll narrow it to Melo, CP3, Harden, Davis, or George.

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Davis is going to be great and take his team deep. However he's not quite there yet.

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Unibrow's PER is 27.2, good for 4th in the league. Also better than any Kevin Duran PER until last year. Better than LeBron's PER in 3 of his first four seasons. Dirk has only topped 27.2 twice and never by a full point. Dwightmare has never been within a point of 27.2. Melo has never broken 25. Harden and TheMarcus have never topped 23.0.

Davis is already there.

[This message has been edited by Guitarsoup (edited 3/24/2014 9:40p).]

Give me Kevin Love

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Davis is going to be great and take his team deep. However he's not quite there yet.

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Unibrow's PER is 27.2, good for 4th in the league. Also better than any Kevin Duran PER until last year. Better than LeBron's PER in 3 of his first four seasons. Dirk has only topped 27.2 twice and never by a full point. Dwightmare has never been within a point of 27.2. Melo has never broken 25. Harden and TheMarcus have never topped 23.0.

Davis is already there.

[This message has been edited by Guitarsoup (edited 3/24/2014 9:40p).]

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Stats only mean so much. Ultimately it's about winning. Love and uni can average 30-15 a game but if they can't make the playoffs then how good are they really.

Just think learning how to win comes with time if you're not already surrounded by talent.

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Stats only mean so much. Ultimately it's about winning.

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No player wins without help. Davis is already there, but he can't help the inept front office of the Pelicans.

Replace Davis with LeBron or Durant and you still don't have a .500 team.

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Stats only mean so much. Ultimately it's about winning.

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No player wins without help. Davis is already there, but he can't help the inept front office of the Pelicans.

Replace Davis with LeBron or Durant and you still don't have a .500 team.

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Sorry but I'll disagree here

Players win without good teammates or LeBron would have the Pelicans over .500 11 wins under currently. 20 games of Ryan Anderson, 34 games of Jrue Holiday, 31 games of Jason Smith and a much worse Tyreke Evans combined with the poor coaching of Monty Williams. That is a losing situation no matter who the team is focused on.

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Stats only mean so much. Ultimately it's about winning.

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No player wins without help. Davis is already there, but he can't help the inept front office of the Pelicans.

Replace Davis with LeBron or Durant and you still don't have a .500 team.

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Bron won 42 games with absolutely no one in his 2nd year. He's on another level.

Z and Drew Gooden were both better than anyone on the Pelicans this year. Especially with all the injuries and three of their top 6 players missing over half the season.