Who are the top 15 small forwards in order (or tiers, whichever works for you)?

In no particular order, here are bunch of small forwards as I remembered them or looked them up on a scoring list. You could probably quibble over position for some of them.
Lebron
Durant
Carmelo Anthony
Kawhi Leonard
Rudy Gay
Nick Young
Chandler Parsons
Paul George
Jeff Green
Josh Smith
Luol Deng
Andre Iguodala
Tyreke Evans
Trevor Ariza
Evan Turner
Wilson Chandler
Tobias Harris
Paul Pierce
Nico Batum
Corey Brewer
Mike Dunleavy
Shawn Marion
Harrison Barnes
DeMarre Carroll
Gordon Hayward

Thought for a second that you had Nick Young 6th.

Nah, he's probably third.


[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 7/8/2014 4:21p).]

My top 5 would be LeBron, Durant, Melo, George, and Kawhi.

Agreed. Somewhere around spot 7 or 8 on my list you'd have a 20 way tie between the rest of the people on this list.

No Danny granger?

Paul George is better than parsons

We're in the golden age of the small forward.

Parsons
































































The rest

Ryan I'd put George ahead of Melo

[This message has been edited by Mr.Bond (edited 7/8/2014 5:17p).]

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Paul George is better than parsons

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Reading an entire post is helpful

I like how that was the one thing he called out from a mostly-randomly ordered list.

Shawn Marion is too low. Guy is a very very good defender, and can score when he needs to.

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Ryan I'd put George ahead of Melo

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So would I. Kawhi probably also passes him this year, from an all-around player standpoint.

[This message has been edited by aggie_2001_2005 (edited 7/8/2014 9:01p).]

1. Lebron - easy decision. The best two way player in the game.

2. Durant - as we've discussed before, maybe the best shooter but not as efficient as Lebron and not the defender Lebron is.

3. Paul George - The only top SF who can boast a higher DRtg than Kawhi. His shooting percentages are bad, but Indiana's offense is... well, it's more like Indiana's offense isn't.

4. Kawhi Leonard - Maybe a homer pick, but he's an advanced statistician's dream: 7th in the league in DRtg, 11th in win shares per 48, 11th in true shooting percent, 7th in effective shooting percent, and 3rd in steal percent. He's the only player who can consistently bother Lebron James and has shown a number of times in the regular season and playoffs that he can take over a game when he wants. Some of the Spurs PbPs in the regular season and playoffs are ridiculous with how often his name shows up on both ends for 5-7 minutes at a time.

5. Carmelo Anthony - I struggled with this one. He's a prolific scorer, but his defense is bad and his overall shooting percentage is decidedly not elite in a respectably efficient offense. This bumps him down below the uber-efficient and well-rounded Leonard.

There are no losers the rest of the way, but I'm going to have to run some comparisons before I venture into the rest of the list. I suspect I'm going to end up with tiers where versatility and efficiency are weighted more heavily than plain points per game.

[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 7/8/2014 9:47p).]

When not trollin', and not weighing any contract implications.

Lebron
Durant

Paul George
Carmelo Anthony
Kawhi Leonard

Rudy Gay
Gordon Hayward
Nico Batum
Luol Deng
Chandler Parsons
Andre Iguodala
Paul Pierce

Jeff Green
Josh Smith

(Fill in about 25-45 more SF here, including possible D-Leaguers and current Dominique Wilkins)

Tayshaun Prince

I would still put Carmelo above Leonard in terms of overall impact. He is a true superstar. I'd love to see him with a real coach with a real system.

Paul George is an enigma to me too. I think I'd still take Carmello over him and maybe even Leonard if I were projecting improvement.

Lebron
Durant
Carmelo Anthony
Kawhi Leonard
Paul George

Rudy Gay would not make my list at all. I love Batum and Deng.

Nico Batum
Luol Deng

Gordon Hayward
Chandler Parsons
Andre Iguodala
Paul Pierce

I think it is a little early to throw Kahwi above Carmelo. Maybe a little too much stock in his finals MVP where for 2 of the 3 games he was not very good but excellent in the others. A lot of it is the system and not requiring him to shoot 20 shots a game for the Spurs to win since they are so balanced. I cant wait to see what he can do when he has to be the #1 option.

I would go

Lebron
Durant

George
Carmelo
Kahwi

This was the first time in his career practically that Kawhi had to deal with serious foul trouble in a big game. He struggled to keep the same mentality through it and it was definitely in his head in games 1 and 2. Getting those touch fouls on Lebron has to be frustrating for a guy. He bounced back though with the help of Pop and Co. I don't think foul trouble will have much effect on the kid going forward.

Lebron
Durrant
Melo
George
Hayward
Iggy
Lenord
Deng
Parsons

Lebron
Durant

Melo
George
Kawhi

Batum
Hayward
Parsons
Iguodala
Gay
Deng
Ariza

And for those who think Leonard is merely a byproduct of the system:

The Spurs without Leonard this year (broken hand:

8-8

The Spurs with Leonard this season (including playoffs):

70-19

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When not trollin', and not weighing any contract implications.

Lebron
Durant

Paul George
Carmelo Anthony
Kawhi Leonard

Rudy Gay
Gordon Hayward
Nico Batum
Luol Deng
Chandler Parsons
Andre Iguodala
Paul Pierce

Jeff Green
Josh Smith

(Fill in about 25-45 more SF here, including possible D-Leaguers and current Dominique Wilkins)

Tayshaun Prince

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Sounds about right.

I might put Marion with Green and Smith though due to his D.

Lebron ~21
Durant 19.9

Melo ~24
George 14.7
Kawhi 2.9

Batum 11.4 (too highly rated on this list)
Hayward 14.8
Parsons 14.7
Iguodala 12.3
Gay 19.3
Deng ~10
Ariza ~8

Offensively, I think there is quite a gap between Lebron, Durant, Melo, and the rest. Opponents devise a defense specifically to stop those guys. The majority of the others on the list (Other than George maybe) are not really the #1 offensive option on their team.

I agree with that, Keith.

LeBron
Durant

Melo

Kawhi
George
Batum
Parsons

Everyone else.

Even with the inefficiencies in George's game, he's better than Leonard.

Offensively there's no question that he's better than Leonard right now. I think Leonard's game is developing nicely though every year in this regard.

Leonard already makes more of an impact on the game defensively (rebounds, steals, blocks, etc).

I listed George above Leonard right now but that gap is not very big IMO. For those who only pay attention to offense it might.

[This message has been edited by Sher Thing (edited 7/14/2014 2:46p).]

Didn't George have more rebounds than Leonard? George is no slouch. I remember him giving Harden fits last year. He was on the all defensive team right?

[This message has been edited by aggie1906 (edited 7/14/2014 2:57p).]

George is very good and obviously a bigger focal point of the Pacers team than Kawhi is for the Spurs.

Paul's PER is slightly ahead of Kawhi's. His shooting is a bit worse and there is that whole thing about him banging Hibbert's wife, which caused Hibbert's meltdown in the second half of the season.

So he gets bonus points right? That helps his rankings.

He's a real team player. Shares the ball(s) freely. Whats your is his and whats his is taken care of with a discrete payoff.

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And for those who think Leonard is merely a byproduct of the system:

The Spurs without Leonard this year (broken hand:

8-8

The Spurs with Leonard this season (including playoffs):

70-19

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Dominique getting his own statue in Atlanta.