Top 100 NBA Players — Nos. 61-70

These rankings are designed to spotlight the 100 best NBA players, regardless of salary or current team context, based on where they stand at this very moment, approaching the (still theoretical) 2011-12 season. There are no objective criteria for these rankings. The list represents my opinion after watching far too many basketball games, scouring every statistic available, recalling conversations I’ve had while reporting on the league and poring over hours and hours of clips on Synergy Sports. And even with all that information, separating some of these guys amounts to making an impossible subjective call.

The overarching goal here is to find two-way players. If you’ve been a regular reader of this blog, you know how much attention is paid to defense and efficiency with the ball. Those 18 points per game look nice in the box score, but if a player gets them by chucking up contested 20-foot jumpers and lazily watching opposing ball-handlers stroll into the lane, he’s going to have a hard time making this list (hi, Andray Blatche). A one-dimensional player seeking to make the top 65 or so better be darn good at that one dimension. Finding truly accomplished two-way players for the bottom 10 spots was basically impossible, making those places more a matter of taste than I’d like.

I’ve already unveiled the bottom 30, so here’s the next set of 10. Stay tuned over the next week or so as I roll out the remaining guys on The Point Forward’s top 100 list:

Marcin Gortat proved a lot on both ends of the floor while in Phoenix. (Mike McGinnis/CSM/Landov)

70. MARCIN GORTAT
C, Phoenix Suns
Age: 27
2010-11 Stats: 10.2 PPG, 56.1 FG%, 72.5 FT%, 7.9 RPG, 0.9 APG, 1.1 BLK

We all understood Gortat had solid NBA potential when he was taking Dwight Howard’s scrap minutes in Orlando, but few of us expected Gortat to immediately emerge as the best player in Orlando’s two December trades. He averaged 13 points and 9.3 rebounds as a Sun, posted a top-five overall defensive rebounding rate and shot 60 percent on attempts that came via pick-and-rolls. Playing with Steve Nash must be great fun.

Gortat will be higher on this list a year from now if he proves his 55-game run with the Suns was no fluke. He’s a decent mid-range shooter who understands he needs to develop more of a back-to-the-basket game to reach another level on offense. Phoenix was a bit stingier on defense when Gortat was on the floor, and though he’s not an elite stopper, he should develop into an above-average defensive big man.

You might argue this spot is too high for a player based on a sample of 55 games, and that’s fine. But Gortat showed a lot in those 55 games, on both ends, and a legitimate center who can do all of those things is a rare commodity.

69. EMEKA OKAFOR
C, New Orleans Hornets
Age: 28
2010-11 Stats: 10.3 PPG, 57.3 FG%, 56.2 FT%, 9.5 RPG, 0.6 APG, 1.8 BLK

Okafor is a bit of mooch, in an endearing way, on offense: He’s dependent on Chris Paul to find him on cuts and pick-and-rolls, or to draw so much attention from defenses that no one is there to block him out. He’ll post up now and then, but he’s not an elite back-to-the-basket force; Okafor used up a career-low 15.8 percent of New Orleans’ possessions last season with a shot, drawn foul or turnover, and that number dropped to 12.7 percent in the postseason, according to Basketball-Reference. You don’t want so-so offensive players overstepping their roles, but you also need proper balance and shot distribution among the guys on the floor. Okafor was treading the line in the playoffs.

But Okafor finishes the chances he does get, and his elite offensive rebounding — he’s one of the league’s best at tapping out rebounds he can’t quite grab — secures extra possessions for a so-so offense that needs every chance it can get.

Okafor’s defense is what really gets him this ranking, though. Opponents shot just 20-of-80 against him in isolation and just 82-of-203 (40 percent) on post-ups — elite numbers, per Synergy. At 6-foot-10, he’s not a disruptive pick-and-roll defender on the level of Dwight Howard or Tyson Chandler, but he’s a force of a different kind.

68.  ANDERSON VAREJAO
F-C, Cleveland Cavaliers
Age: 28
2010-11 Stats: 9.1 PPG, 52.8 FG%, 66.7 FT%, 9.7 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1.2 BLK

Some are going to think this is a bit high for a player who has never cracked 10 points per game in the NBA, but if anything, I’m betting Varejao outplays this ranking next season. He is one of the great all-around big man defenders in the league. He can stifle a pick-and-roll by jumping out to cut off the ball-handler and scrambling back to find his man in the paint. He’s a brute in the post. He’s a fantastic helper and a top-shelf rebounder. There is nothing Varejao does poorly on defense.

The questions come at the other end, where Varejao thrived as an off-ball cutter playing off LeBron James. Varejao has logged only about 1,000 minutes — almost all last season — without James dominating the ball. But those minutes were encouraging. Varejao’s cutting and pick-and-roll work translated to a post-LeBron world, and he displayed an improved mid-range jumper before an injury ended his season in January. He’s also a very good offensive rebounder.

Contenders would be lining up to get this guy if he were available and they had a deal the Cavaliers might actually consider.

67. SERGE IBAKA
PF, Oklahoma City Thunder
Age: 21
2010-11 Stats: 9.9 PPG, 54.3 FG%, 75.0 FT%, 7.6 RPG, 0.3 APG, 2.4 BLK

With Jeff Green gone and Kendrick Perkins aboard, it is time for Ibaka to fulfill his potential as a super-Varejao. He’s not there yet, on either end, but expect Ibaka to show off some new stuff by the middle of next season. He already has the cutting/crashing the offensive glass part of it down, and he has developed a reliable mid-range jumper — though he got a little gun-shy with it at times in the playoffs. He doesn’t have much of a one-on-one game, in the post or otherwise, but that will come as his footwork and confidence improve.

The same is true, in some ways, on defense. We know what he can do as a shot-blocking help menace, and his quickness makes him a decent pick-and-roll defender. But he’s vulnerable in the post against bulldozers (Zach Randolph) and tricksters (Dirk Nowitzki), and “stretch fours” with three-point range were able to lose Ibaka now and then in half-court sets.

Still, the smart money is on continued improvement and a run at top-50 status or better a year from now.

66. ANDREA BARGNANI
F-C, Toronto Raptors
Age: 25
2010-11 Stats: 21.4 PPG, 44.8 FG%, 34.5 3PT%, 5.2 RPG, 1.8 APG

Many will hate this ranking, I realize. The Bargnani devotees who see the next Nowitzki — still — will yell and scream about how there is no way a guy who averaged 21.4 points per game should rank this low. And then there are those who believe that Bargnani’s historically bad rebounding makes him one of the worst players in NBA history.

The truth is he’s somewhere in between, which is why we’re going to place him here — a dismally low spot for a No. 1 overall draft pick. But Bargnani is still a reasonably good player who could work in the right context (i.e. not as a No. 1 scoring option, surrounded by inexperienced or poor defenders). He is indeed terrible on the glass — one of the worst big man rebounders who has ever played in the NBA. That matters. To say he’s an equally bad defender is both true and too general. As Sebastian Pruiti has pointed out, Synergy numbers have consistently painted Bargnani as a solid defender in the post and in one-on-one situations. That is not a made-up thing or an exercise in excuse-making. The numbers are there, and the evidence is there on the video, if you remove the anti-Bargnani blinders.

Unfortunately, the trouble starts when Bargnani has to move around the court, either to quash a pick-and-roll, help a teammate or dart out toward a shooter. He has never been much good at any of this. And this is the stuff big men have to be better at now, in an era where there aren’t too many back-to-the-basket brutes who play to Bargnani’s relative strengths.

Add it all up, including the rebounding, and you’ve got a subpar big man defender at the center of just about every dismal Raptors lineup that took the floor last season.

Ranking him here, at No. 66 and above a few intriguing bigs, reflects the confidence that Bargnani’s shooting percentages will rebound to their career norms, and that a slowly changing team context in Toronto — the hiring of Dwane Casey and the maturation of DeMar DeRozan, Ed Davis and others — will turn Bargnani into a better player and serve to hide his weaknesses a bit more.

If Bargnani continues to flounder on defense, Gortat and Ibaka are going to blow right past him as all-around players. And if you wanted to put all of the four preceding big men — Gortat, Varejao, Ibaka and Okafor – ahead of Bargnani now, I wouldn’t argue.

Bargnani was a less efficient scorer last season, since his three-point percentage dropped to 34.5 percent — around the league average — and his overall mark dropped along with it. In his defense, Bargnani is miscast as a No. 1 scoring option. Having a 7-footer who can shoot threes should help your team because it loosens up spacing so much, but the benefits are lost to some degree when you’re asking a third or second banana to do first-banana work.

Bargnani should be an asset, especially since he started to get the line at an above-average rate last season. And given how alleged defensive sieves have turned their careers around when gifted better playing environments, it’s fun to wonder if Bargnani could emerge as a neutral defender under a guru coach and alongside an elite defensive player or two. Can that happen in Toronto? Hiring Casey is a start.

Jamal Crawford is a minus defender, but he is capable of scoring from all over the floor. (AP)

65. JAMAL CRAWFORD
G, unrestricted free agent (Atlanta Hawks)
Age: 31
2010-11 Stats: 14.2 PPG, 42.1 FG%, 34.1 3PT%, 3.2 APG, 1.7 RPG

It’s fitting that we go from Bargnani to Crawford, another offense-first type known as one of the NBA’s worst perimeter defenders. You’ll recall from the beginning of this exercise that the stated goal is to find two-way players whenever possible. Crawford is a minus defender, but you need guys who can score; a team with three Tony Allens and two Varejaos would play some fearsome defense, but someone has to throw the round thing in the other round thing.

Crawford can do that from all over the floor, even if he does take some shots that will make you cringe. He can also run a decent pick-and-roll and make the proper pass, and there were times last season when I’d be begging Larry Drew to try another Crawford/Al Horford pick-and-roll in crunch time.

Concerns about Crawford’s defense are legit. His intentions are good, but he is easily crossed over on the ball and has trouble navigating ball screens; Drew’s postseason experimentation with Crawford guarding Derrick Rose ended badly. But defending point guards now is a near-impossible task, and I often wonder whether it’s better to have your weak-link defender here than in your big man rotation.

64. JASON RICHARDSON
SG, unrestricted free agent (Orlando Magic)
Age: 30
2010-11 Stats: 15.6 PPG, 44.7 FG%, 39.5 3PT%, 1.8 APG, 4.1 RPG

Richardson never found himself in Orlando and, like most of the Magic, he laid an egg in the playoffs, all of which serves to tarnish his reputation a bit as he heads into free agency. (And it doesn’t help that Richardson is so sensitive that he went after Kevin Pelton on Twitter, all because Pelton wrote a perfectly rational piece for ESPN.com arguing that Richardson would be a risky big-money free agent signing.)

For all that went wrong with the Magic, Richardson shot 38 percent from three-point range in Orlando and was particularly effective coming off screens. He didn’t do that as much as Magic fans probably expected when he arrived in December, but his touch was still pure. Everything else fell off, though: He used many fewer possessions, got to the line much less than he did in Phoenix and rarely attacked off the dribble or in the post.

All of this suggests that he struggled to fit in a much different context than the one he had grown comfortable with, alongside Nash in Phoenix. The one-on-one stuff will continue to atrophy as Richardson ages, but the touch should remain. Richardson is a neutral defender, and he’ll help in the right system.

63. CARON BUTLER 
SF, unrestricted free agent (Dallas Mavericks)
Age: 31
2010-11 Stats: 15.0 PPG, 45.0 FG%, 43.1 3PT%, 4.1 RPG, 1.6 APG

As I wrote in detail here, Butler showed before his season-ending knee injury in Dallas that he might be ready to evolve into the next stage of his career. He contributed on offense without hogging the ball or jacking those off-the-dribble 20-footers Washington fans grew to hate, and he developed a dependable three-pointer for the first time in his career. He was a helpful defender, and the Mavs thrived even more than usual when Butler was on the floor.

As with Richardson, the one-on-one skills won’t be as potent as Butler gets older. But if the evolution he showed in Dallas was for real, he’ll be a helpful two-way player for another two or three seasons. The elite three-point shooting came out of nowhere on a team that flourished on perfect spacing, so it will be interesting to watch if Butler can duplicate it.

62. SHAWN MARION
F, Dallas Mavericks
Age: 33
2010-11 Stats: 12.5 PPG, 52.0 FG%, 15.2 3PT%, 6.9 RPG, 1.4 APG

Marion’s defensive performance in the playoffs against Kevin Durant and then the combination of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade reaffirmed his value in the league, even as that value is dipping now that he’s in his mid-30s. Over 82 games, Marion won’t appear to be all that special. He’ll play solid defense and score in double figures, but his lack of jump-shooting range can squeeze a team’s spacing. Defenses feel comfortable leaving Marion alone on the perimeter and choking the rest of the court; the fact that Dallas played much worse offensively with Marion on the floor, both in the playoffs and the regular season, is not solely the result of Marion’s working as one of Nowitzki’s primary replacements.

But, man, can Marion suddenly look valuable in a game that really matters against a team with an elite wing player or two. He’s smart, understands team defensive schemes and has a unique combination of quickness and bulk. Marion primarily defended LeBron and Durant, but the Mavs were comfortable having him take turns on Wade and switching onto Russell Westbrook late in the shot clock.

Dallas did just fine offensively with Marion on the floor, as long as Nowitzki was there, too, joined by other capable offensive players. Marion might not be a good shooter, but he’s a post-up threat, and he has learned to punish defenses that ignore him. Meander away from Marion, and he’ll cut into the lane, catch a pass and launch a floater before the defense can react properly.

Marion has had a really fascinating career, and he’s still a nice player.

61. TAYSHAUN PRINCE
SF, unrestricted free agent (Detroit Pistons)
Age: 31
2010-11 Stats: 14.1 PPG, 47.3 FG%, 34.7 3PT%, 4.2 RPG, 2.8 APG

We’ve apparently entered the aging wing section of the list. While Butler and Richardson are evolving, Prince really just needs to keep doing what he has always done in order to maintain his status in the league. He has been remarkably consistent, posting a Player Efficiency Rating between 15.0 and 16.2 in each of the last seven seasons, averaging about 14 points and five boards per game in each one.

If we’re searching for versatile players, Prince fits the bill. He has long been a very good defender, and even last year, amid that mess in Detroit, only 57 players allowed their individual opponents to score fewer points per possession than Prince. He was especially tough in isolation situations (opponents shot just 40-of-122), and his long arms allow him to contest shots well on the perimeter.

Prince has never been a scoring star, but he can do a bit of everything on offense — isolation work, post-ups, spot-up threes and even the occasional pick-and-roll. That’s a nice kind of player to have, especially when the shot clock is running down and someone has to do something. He gets the nod over Marion, by a hair, because of his superior shooting range.

MORE TOP 100

• Nos. 91-100
• Nos. 81-90
• Nos. 71-80