B/R NBA Community Top 100 Player Rankings: See How Readers Disagree with Our Experts
Last week, Bleacher Report released its annual preseason player rankings: "Predicting NBA's Top 100 Players for 2023-24 Season."
As always, the response was, in a word, significant. And, as is the case with any list of this magnitude, readers and analysts alike had plenty of different opinions about the order.
So, for the first time ever, we put the power in the hands of B/R's NBA community to make its own top 100.
With the help of AllOurIdeas.org, B/R readers and app users were able to vote on a limitless number of either/or comparisons drawn from a pool of players selected by B/R's NBA staff.
For example, a voter might be presented with the hypothetical matchup of Nikola Jokić and Giannis Antetokounmpo, under the question, "Who will be better in 2023-24?"
The more votes a player gets against the field, the higher up the list he'll rise.
And after nearly half a million votes from all of you, the system gave everyone in the player pool a score from zero to 100. If a player winds up at 80, it means he's predicted to win 80 of his next 100 matchups.
Now that the entire pool has been sorted by those scores, we can present the fans' top 100 for 2023-24.
100-91
1 of 10
100. John Collins (Ranked 93rd by B/R's NBA Staff)
99. Jaden McDaniels (97th)
98. Keldon Johnson (78th)
97. Shaedon Sharpe (Not Ranked)
96. Bruce Brown (88th)
95. Bojan Bogdanović (94th)
94. Tobias Harris (100th)
93. Jaden Ivey (Not Ranked)
92. Robert Williams (87th)
91. Alperen Şengün (82nd)
The big disagreement between the staff and the B/R community here is obviously Keldon Johnson, which is actually a bit of a surprise for someone who's reviewed all the other disagreements below.
Generally speaking, the app crowd seems a little higher on so-called "bucket getters" than B/R's writers. And last season, Johnson averaged a career-high and team-leading 22.0 points.
Is the 20-spot slide the result of Johnson playing for an under-the-radar San Antonio Spurs team that barreled toward the bottom of the standings and the draft lottery for all of 2022-23? That would certainly be a reasonable explanation.
Other than that, there aren't many huge surprises here, although second-year pros Shaedon Sharpe and Jaden Ivey jumping into the top 100 after the staff kept them out is worth noting.
90-81
2 of 10
90. Nic Claxton (Ranked 96th by B/R's NBA Staff)
89. Bennedict Mathurin (94th)
88. Derrick White (68th)
87. Malcolm Brogdon (89th)
86. Josh Hart (99th)
85. Jabari Smith Jr. (84th)
84. Jalen Williams (85th)
83. Nikola Vučević (81st)
82. Walker Kessler (86th)
81. Brook Lopez (79th)
The biggest drop here is another guard, but this one sort of fits the trend of the rest of the community rankings better.
Derrick White is coming off a season with seemingly ho-hum averages of 12.4 points and 3.9 assists, but the staff is putting a lot more stock into his perimeter defense and timely shooting. And with Marcus Smart now on the Memphis Grizzlies, White will get his shot to prove the readers wrong and live up to the top-70 rank the staff gave him.
The other notable difference here might be how much higher the community is on Josh Hart, who may be rewarding the readers' faith (or inspiring it) with a strong showing for Team USA at the FIBA World Cup.
80-71
3 of 10
80. Keegan Murray (Ranked 92nd by B/R's NBA Staff)
79. Rudy Gobert (62nd)
78. Anfernee Simons (74th)
77. Chris Paul (69th)
76. Cameron Johnson (67th)
75. RJ Barrett (91st)
74. Kyle Kuzma (77th)
73. Jerami Grant (56th)
72. Draymond Green (49th)
71. Jordan Poole (76th)
The first name and numbers that jump out here are Rudy Gobert and his 17-spot drop from staff to community. And this one's not all that surprising either.
Gobert experienced significant dips from 2021-22 to 2022-23 in points per game, rebounds per game, blocks per game and field-goal percentage. And after the publicity his 2022 trade to the Minnesota Timberwolves received, those dips were under a microscope all season.
Draymond Green is another defense-first player that the app is much lower on than the staff, and that's in spite of better shot selection and a surge in effective field-goal percentage over the last two seasons.
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70-61
4 of 10
70. Jalen Green (Ranked 80th by B/R's NBA Staff)
69. Jarrett Allen (64th)
68. Scoot Henderson (83rd)
67. Myles Turner (57th)
66. Marcus Smart (71st)
65. Franz Wagner (52nd)
64. Deandre Ayton (54th)
63. Tyler Herro (66th)
62. CJ McCollum (75th)
61. Aaron Gordon (65th)
This slide features some of the trends that have already been highlighted.
Scorers like Jalen Green and CJ McCollum are higher among the community voters. A defensive specialist (which might undersell his three-point shooting) like Myles Turner is lower.
Slight bumps for Marcus Smart and Aaron Gordon sort of fly in the face of that, but that's not enough to back off the general analysis of the differences between the two top 100s.
The biggest deal on this slide has to be Scoot Henderson rising 15 spots higher than the staff had him and breaking the top 70. Eighty-third felt optimistic for a rookie who may be stretched in an important role, but the app users must not be too worried about that.
60-51
5 of 10
60. Chet Holmgren (Ranked 73rd by B/R's NBA Staff)
59. Scottie Barnes (53rd)
58. Michael Porter Jr. (71st)
57. Fred VanVleet (59th)
56. Desmond Bane (61st)
55. Khris Middleton (50th)
54. Austin Reaves (69th)
53. O.G. Anunoby (46th)
52. Josh Giddey (57th)
51. Andrew Wiggins (45th)
Then again, maybe the community is just higher on rookies than the staff.
Chet Holmgren cracked the top 60 for the fans, after coming in at No. 73 among staff members. And if he lives up to that former ranking, he'll almost certainly have Rookie of the Year-level production to his name (though one more first-year player is still coming up).
Another riser in this group is Michael Porter Jr., whose postseason contributions to the title-winning Denver Nuggets may have been somewhat under-appreciated by the staff. Prior to a Finals in which his outside shot abandoned him, MPJ was shooting 40.8 percent from deep in the 2023 playoffs.
Finally, Austin Reaves' spot has to stand out too. And while it might be easy to chalk that up to the large and often vocal Los Angeles Lakers fanbase showing up to vote, Reaves' 16.9 points (on just 12.1 shots) and 4.6 assists in the postseason were undeniably impressive.
50-41
6 of 10
50. Klay Thompson (Ranked 60th by B/R's NBA Staff)
49. Kristaps Porziņģis (43rd)
48. Cade Cunningham (39th)
47. Tyrese Maxey (51st)
46. Evan Mobley (41st)
45. Julius Randle (55th)
44. Dejounte Murray (47th)
43. Victor Wembanyama (63rd)
42. Jrue Holiday (37th)
41. James Harden (22nd)
You were promised one more rookie, and you probably guessed who it would be.
Victor Wembanyama climbing all the way to 43rd among fans isn't necessarily surprising, but that doesn't mean it isn't bold.
It's around the top-40 range when players are starting to flirt with All-Star selections. And if Wembanyama is able to do that in Year 1, we might have to readjust the already absurdly high expectations.
Elsewhere in this slide, we have more scorers getting more love from the fans (Klay Thompson and Julius Randle) and a defender they're not quite as high on (Evan Mobley), but the biggest difference is James Harden.
B/R's writers are seemingly more willing to look past recent off-court drama involving Harden and focus on him averaging at least 20 points and 10 assists in each of his last three seasons. The fans may have had enough.
40-31
7 of 10
40. Zach LaVine (Ranked 44th by B/R's NBA Staff)
39. DeMar DeRozan (42nd)
38. LaMelo Ball (48th)
37. Bradley Beal (34th)
36. Darius Garland (38th)
35. Paolo Banchero (40th)
34. Lauri Markkanen (32nd)
33. Zion Williamson (28th)
32. Pascal Siakam (24th)
31. Brandon Ingram (29th)
There aren't many big discrepancies between fans and staff here. The former are higher on LaMelo Ball and lower on Pascal Siakam, but things start to feel very cozy in the top 50. The margins between NBA players are shrinking, and a 10-spot difference at this point might not mean a ton.
What may be notable, though, is the community planting its flag on the "Brandon Ingram is better than Zion Williamson" hill.
That take can't really be based on numbers (Zion's are dramatically better), so maybe the crowd has given up on waiting for Williamson to get and stay healthy.
30-21
8 of 10
30. Jaren Jackson Jr. (Ranked 31st by B/R's NBA Staff)
29. Domantas Sabonis (35th)
28. Karl-Anthony Towns (23rd)
27. Jalen Brunson (36th)
26. Mikal Bridges (25th)
25. Trae Young (30th)
24. Paul George (18th)
23. Bam Adebayo (27th)
22. Kyrie Irving (25th)
21. Tyrese Haliburton (33rd)
Here's another group where there aren't a lot of dramatic differences between the two lists, but there are still a couple interesting points to discuss.
First, both the readers and writers seem to be giving a lot of the benefit of the doubt to Karl-Anthony Towns in keeping him above Domantas Sabonis. Over the last two seasons, KAT trails Sabonis by pretty significant margins in rebounds per game, assists per game and box plus/minus. And Sabonis is coming off an All-NBA nod.
That's an either/or that may be worth monitoring over the course of the season.
The other name here that needs to be mentioned is Tyrese Haliburton, who went from outside the top 30 for the staff to borderline top 20 for readers.
After averaging 20.7 points and 10.4 assists in 2022-23, Haliburton now looks like the best guard on a Team USA roster that also features Jalen Brunson. The readers may be onto something with this one.
20-11
9 of 10
20. Jamal Murray (Ranked 16th by B/R's NBA Staff)
19. Kawhi Leonard (13th)
18. Ja Morant (21st)
17. Jaylen Brown (19th)
16. De'Aaron Fox (17th)
15. Anthony Davis (10th)
14. Donovan Mitchell (20th)
13. Jimmy Butler (12th)
12. Damian Lillard (14th)
11. Devin Booker (9th)
We've made it to the fans' top 20, where the margins between individual players are minuscule. And as you can see from the numbers on either side of the players' names, the writers and readers are fairly well aligned.
That doesn't mean no one from this group deserves a nod, though. On the contrary, Jamal Murray's rise into both lists' top 20s is a good reflection of the postseason and what it can do for a player's reputation.
Murray is 26 years old and entering his eighth season. To date, he's yet to make an All-Star team. But after putting up 26.1 points and 7.1 assists in a 16-4 playoff run that ended with a title, it's hard to argue against his spot in either ranking.
10-1
10 of 10
10. Anthony Edwards (Ranked 15th by B/R's NBA Staff)
9. LeBron James (7th)
8. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (11th)
7. Kevin Durant (8th)
6. Joel Embiid (4th)
5. Jayson Tatum (5th)
4. Nikola Jokić (1st)
3. Stephen Curry (6th)
2. Luka Dončić (3rd)
1. Giannis Antetokounmpo (2nd)
B/R obviously isn't the only outlet that publishes preseason power rankings. And right now, you'd be hard-pressed to find a single one that doesn't have reigning Finals MVP Nikola Jokić in the top spot.
But that, the title run and an ironclad statistical argument in favor of Jokić wasn't enough to land him in the readers' top spot. In fact, it wasn't enough to get him into the top three, which is absurd.
Other than that, the community showed a little more respect for Stephen Curry than the writers did. It sees a bigger leap for Anthony Edwards. And it fully embraced the three-year-old consensus on Giannis Antetokounmpo's placement.
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