7 NBA Superstars Who Will Move Up the Ranks in 2014-15
Imagine a world in which all NBA superstars were perceived as equals.
Boring, right?
All superstars aren't standing on level ground. They're different. Some are more talented than others. Like every other player, they're always trying to get better and climb higher.
That brings us here, trying to figure out which superstars are moving onward and upward, closer to their profession's pinnacle, where there lies a 100-foot, gold-crafted statue of, you guessed it, LeBron James.
Common criteria will be considered in the process—stats, last season's performance, age, team situation, etc. Bleacher Report's latest top-25 player rankings—penned by Adam Fromal—will be a loose guide as well. But this is also a largely subjective exercise that has to rely heavily on the eye test and personal perception and the subsequent impressions they foster.
And in the spirit of this analysis, returning superstars—Kobe Bryant, Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo—aren't here. Injuries knocked them off the ladder. Simply hopping back on it would qualify as rising. Listing them would be unfair and mindless.
What we're essentially asking is: Who from the best of the best is going to be even better and rise even higher by the end of 2014-15?
The ensuing answers may surprise you—especially if you're inexplicably expecting a 30-slide opus dedicated to the metamorphosis of Arnett Moultrie.
Notable Standstills
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There's no use skating the obvious: James and Kevin Durant aren't going anywhere—because they can't.
If James and Durant were to climb any higher up the superstar ladder, they would need tailored astronaut suits. They are No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. That's not going to change.
As time wears on and both age, maybe they'll fall. Maybe some young gun eventually passes one or both of them.
Anything is possible.
For now, though, James and Durant aren't moving up or down. They'll stay where they are, atop everyone else, which is impressive work in and of itself.
DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento Kings
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Welcome to fall 2014! Leaves are changing color, NBA teams are worth more than Marc Lasry, massive television deals are being signed and DeMarcus Cousins is a portrait of stable growth.
A strong 2013-14 crusade—during which he became the fifth player in NBA history under the age of 24 to average at least 20 points, 11 rebounds, 2.5 assists, one steal and one block per game—preceded an equally strong showing for Team USA at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. Yes, Cousins is a gold medalist.
By this point he's moved beyond many of his fellow towers. Dwight Howard, Marc Gasol and Joakim Noah, among others, are no longer unreachable touchstones. They're peers; they're pecking-order juniors.
It's not his numbers and his neck swag, or his age (24) and the fact he plays on a Sacramento Kings team that should forfeit any game it plays without him, that makes him an intriguing case study. It's the fact he's maturing by monitoring his technical-foul count and taking the initiative as a leader of men.
"Even besides that, just being the best leader I can be for this team," Cousins said, per The Sacramento Bee's Jason Jones. "I know I’m not perfect, and I probably never will be, but I’m aiming to be the best leader I can be for this team.”
Putting stock in Cousins' words and his performance has never been smarter. The combustible big man best known for being a source of unfulfilled promise is officially a star—one who isn't done rising.
Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers
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Pictured above is Blake Griffin, doing the "Blake face," staring into your soul, subliminally telling you there's a few superstars he's preparing to leap-frog.
Griffin took multiple leaps last season, coming into his own as a team cornerstone. After leading the Los Angeles Clippers to a 12-6 record without Chris Paul—in the incredibly savage Western Conference no less—he was no longer that guy who dunks.
He was that guy who carries his team. He was that guy with that mid-range touch—he shot 37.1 percent on mid-range jumpers last year, up from 35.1 percent in 2012-13, per NBA.com.
He was an MVP candidate.
Now he's all those things and, apparently, a three-point shooter.
In his first preseason game of the year, Griffin nailed his first six jumpers, one of which was a corner three. He hit just 12 treys all last season. Quadrupling that total—and then some—is a given.
Expanding his offensive range even further makes Griffin an impossible cover. Traditional power forwards and centers won't stand a chance against him on the perimeter. His 24.1 points per game last season may be only a taste of what's to come.
That the 25-year-old Griffin keeps evolving is astounding, and it makes everything he's done, along with everything we know now, a prelude to his continued superstar ascent. The player who often struggles to clear top-10 status has, by default, set his sights on higher ground. And that should scare, well, everyone.
Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers
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Kyrie Irving was almost excluded from this party for the same reason John Wall is actually left off (spoilers, much?).
Rose's return coupled with Rondo's eventual return is going to make it difficult for any floor general to move up the point guard-specific ladder, let alone the superstar one. But Irving is an exception.
Call it the superstar-by-association effect.
Of everyone who stands to benefit from the Cleveland Cavaliers' new, superstar-y look, Irving has the most to gain. Playing alongside James and Kevin Love takes a world of pressure off his shoulders, allowing him to operate the way he's meant to operate—as a hybrid point guard who spends time both on and off the ball.
Beside James and Love, his efficiency should climb. Within David Blatt's positionless, passing-packed offense, his offensive volume shouldn't suffer much, if at all.
Finally having a veteran mentor in James should inspire him to do more, to play defense and to hold himself accountable.
Basically, Irving is on the cusp of going from the league's most criticized superstar, to a much-improved, more well-rounded and properly rated superstar.
After three years of enduring infectious invective, that's what we in the abstract ladder business call climbing.
Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder
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Relax, Russell Westbrook isn't catching Kevin Durant. But he is going places if he stays healthy.
Having watched him blow by defenders and destroy rims for six years, it's easy to forget Westbrook is still young and improving. So, here's your reminder: Russell Westbrook is still young (25) and improving.
Though he receives a lot of flack for his shot selection and those stretches where he mistakenly or deliberately pretends Durant is sporting Harry Potter's invisibility cloak, Westbrook is a statistical beast. He's averaged at least 20 points and five assists per game in each of the last four seasons. The only other player to do that is James. Just seven other players have done it more than once the last four years.
Does he still have his warts? Absolutely. His three-point accuracy remains a mess, his general shot selection has been known to make eyes bleed, he's Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen emotional and his street clothes are often made out of patterned shower curtains.
The beauty of Westbrook is none of this matters. Sports Illustrated's Ben Golliver touches upon this in greater detail while arguing that the point guard is the league's fourth-best player:
"All of those issues remained part of Westbrook's story last season to one degree or another, and yet he managed to render most of them moot through sheer force of will during the postseason. Indeed, it was Westbrook's overall excellence in the playoffs that sealed his top-five status on the list.
"
Pitchfork-pointers should chill. There's absolutely no way Westbrook is a top-four player...right now. But he has the potential to get there. Remember, it's his and Durant's brilliance—not Scott Brooks' tape-thin playbook—that keeps the Oklahoma City Thunder contending year in and year out.
Top-five status is not beyond Westbrook's reach.
Chris Bosh, Miami Heat
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Feel free to arm yourselves now. This is definitely pitchfork-appropriate.
To wit: That doesn't make it wrong.
Chris Bosh is now The Guy for the Miami Heat. James thought playing alongside Love and Irving would be more fun (spoiler: It will be), and Dwyane Wade's wispy knees preclude him from picking up the necessary slack in the aftermath of his quest for additional fun. That leaves Bosh. All $118-plus million of him.
And that's not a bad thing. While he's four years removed from headlining an offense and creating a majority of his own shots, the memory of top-dog Bosh remains, and it looks good.
During his final five seasons with the Toronto Raptors, Bosh averaged 22.8 points and 9.9 rebounds on an efficient 50 percent shooting. Those are the kinds of numbers he should be recording in Miami this year. If anything, they'll be better since he has three-point range this time around.
Nevermind that he's pushing 31 or that he's spent the last four years often bruising with bigs much burlier than himself. Bosh has four years of necessary sacrifice and marginalization to put behind him.
Plummeting down—and perhaps off—the superstar ladder is the price he paid for two championships, four NBA Finals appearances and dynastic aspirations. Beginning a gradual climb back up is Bosh's reward for sticking with the Heat after they served James' purpose.
Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans
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Friends, I have a confession to make: Davis may have already catapulted himself as high as he can go—only because he's arguably the league's third-best player right now.
Out of respect for a certain point guard on the Los Angeles Clippers, we'll say he isn't. But he will be.
Most of the time I'm above citing myself to prove a point. This is not one of those times:
"Never before has the NBA seen a player like him. Kevin Garnett comparisons were out in full force once he entered the league, then we watched him. Then we bore witness to his skill set.
Then we realized he was somehow Garnett, Tim Duncan, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Kevin Love and an Optimus Prime-hauling Dinobot all rolled into one.
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Adequately describing Davis' ceiling is impossible. There's no way to do it justice. He averaged 20.8 points, 10 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 2.8 blocks per game last season. No player under the age of 22 has done that before. Davis, meanwhile, didn't turn 21 until this past March.
Oh, and that's the other thing: He's only 21.
Merely months ago, when he walked into a bar, servers would (maybe) hand him a snifter of warm milk, a box of crayons and one of those coloring sheets. That's how young he is, which should scare the entire galaxy.
At this point, there's no stopping him. There's no containing him, either. Accepting the truth is our only option. And the truth is, there is no limit to how high Davis, a definitive superstar, will ultimately rise.
Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
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Shooters shoot, and Stephen Curry is the deadliest shooter alive.
What makes him so special, though, is that he does so much more than drain 40-plus percent of his three-balls. He distributes, he drives and he hits floaters. He plays out of his mind on a daily basis.
None of that's going to change.
Another passing summer hasn't brought an end to Curry's reign of made baskets and dropped dimes. The 26-year-old floor general is primed to follow last year's 24-point, 8.5-assist explosion with something even better.
Playing for Mark Jackson may have been Curry's prerogative, but Steve Kerr's triangle- and motion-adapted offense is going to work wonders for the Golden State Warriors' franchise point guard.
Shots will come easier. Three-pointers will continue to fall. Curry will be free to be Curry—the sneaky assassin who slays perimeter defenses with a flick of the wrist—more so than ever, laying claim to a title someone else has called his own for years.
"More importantly, with two fully healthy seasons behind him (knocks on enormous oaken armoire)," writes Bleacher Report's Jim Cavan, "Curry’s career prospects are fast closing in on a designation both simple and superlative: the flat-out best point guard in the game."
Curry has little wiggle room to climb any higher. Fromal already has him ranked as a top-five stud. Slipping past Paul, like Cavan predicts, is imperative if he wants to keep rising.
Good thing Curry has the silky-smooth shooting touch, keen passing eye and requisite star power to make such a challenging ascension possible.
*Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com unless otherwise cited.
