John Hollinger Being Over-Generous in His Ranking of Brandon Roy

In a recent article written by ESPN insider John Hollinger, he has claimed that Brandon Roy is the seventh-best player in the NBA. Here's the link.

Hollinger couldn't be more wrong. I have nothing against Roy, but there are better players out there.

According to Hollinger, the players ahead of Roy are LeBron James, Tim Duncan, Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, and Dwight Howard. Those are some big names to put Roy into company with, and it's undeserved.

Yes, he may be underrated because he plays for Portland, and they are having a surprising year. Roy is having a fantastic year, averaging 22.7 points per game, 5.1 assists per game, 4.7 assists, 1.1 steals, .3 blocks per game, on 48 percent shooting from the floor, 39 percent from 3, 82.9 percent from the line, and averages 1.9 turnovers per game.

Those are some great numbers offensively. The problem that arises it that Roy is not the seventh best player in the league. He is definitely in the top 20, but No. 7 is being a little bit too nice. Yes, Roy doesn't turn the ball over much but that's also because he's got Steve Blake at point guard to handle the ball as well.

Hollinger then had a poll for his article on who was number eight with Deron Williams, Chris Bosh, Kevin Durant, Yao Ming, and Paul Pierce. Out of all of the players the only player Roy should be ranked over is Ming.

Hollinger also forgot to mention players like Joe Johnson, Antawn Jamison, Al Jefferson (when healthy), Stephen Jackson, Monta Ellis (when healthy), Danny Granger, and Kevin Martin (when healthy).

Meaning if you put those players stats ahead of Roy you have this: 7. Deron Williams 8. Chris Bosh 9. Kevin Durant 10. Paul Pierce 11. Joe Johnson 12. Al Jefferson (when healthy) 13. Stephen Jackson 14. Monta Ellis 15. Danny Granger 16. Kevin Martin 17. Michael Redd  18. Brandon Roy 19. Yao Ming.

Yes, Roy is in the top 20 and that's where he should be. Too say that he's the seventh best player in the league is being over generous. Yes, Roy is very talented, and he's improved, but he's not in the top 10 players in the league yet.