Ranking the top 100 NBA players — 50. Christian Wood
The Pistons’ decision to not re-sign with Christian Wood in 2020 was met with criticism, which ultimately proved correct. While injury cut his first Rockets season short, Christian Wood had more than enough time to prove his viability as a go-to offensive option. He’s one of the most skilled 7-footers in the NBA, with step-back 3s, transition playmaking, and graceful post moves all entrenched in his arsenal.
Wood can score from just about everywhere. He can pick-and-pop, he can roll to the rim as a lob threat, he can dance around the block, he can run the break — he’s a hard puzzle for defenses to solve in the middle of the floor. With a real complement of perimeter scorers at his disposal next season, we should expect even bigger things from Wood, who averaged 21.0 points and 9.6 rebounds last season.
Ranking the top 100 NBA players — 49. Russell Westbrook
Russell Westbrook is complete chaos and impossible to quantify as a player. Sometimes he’s actively destructive on the court. Sometimes he’s one of the league’s most singularly dominant players. He can boom or bust on any given night, and poses a wider range of possible outcomes than just about any NBA “star.”
The fit in LA does not favor Russ, even if the raw talent should make the Lakers a contender. He’s not going to have as much spacing on the floor as he was accustomed to in Houston and even Washington, while LeBron James’ ball dominance doesn’t inherently mix with Westbrook’s total incapacity to contribute off the ball. All that said, he averaged a triple-double last season and helped drag a ramshackle Washington roster to the playoffs. In short, my official analysis of Russell Westbrook is: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Ranking the top 100 NBA players — 48. LaMelo Ball
LaMelo Ball is in line for the standard second-year leap made by (most) elite rookies. He almost took Charlotte to the playoffs last season, and may have even eclipsed the play-in tournament if not for a serious injury. He’s one of the most team-friendly stars on the planet. He makes everyone around him better, which is perhaps his greatest single attribute.
Ball’s kick-ahead passes became highlight reels. He’s a one-man transition offense, and in the halfcourt, he was much better than expected. Ball showed not only deep range on his pull-up 3, but a pretty consistent stroke and some real juice scoring inside the arc, with crafty finishes and a nifty floater. He needs to get better on defense, but at 6-foot-7, he has all the tools to impact that side of the ball.
Ranking the top 100 NBA players — 47. Gordon Hayward
Ball will overtake Gordon Hayward as the undisputed alpha in Charlotte soon enough, but Gordon Hayward remains extremely good (and extremely underrated). He doesn’t really fit the timeline, and his contract never made sense when it was signed, but he’s a borderline All-Star talent whose injury also tanked Charlotte’s playoff bid last season.
For the season, Hayward averaged 19.6 points and 5.9 rebounds, slashing .473/.415/.843 and finding some of his long-lost explosiveness off the dribble. He didn’t quite return to pre-knee blowout form, but he got close to the Jazz days of yesteryear, and could fully blossom in his second Hornets season.
Ranking the top 100 NBA players — 46. DeAndre Ayton
Most of the credit for Phoenix’s Finals run has been laid at the doorsteps of Chris Paul and Devin Booker, but let us not forget the immense contributions of Deandre Ayton. The former No. 1 pick transformed into the perfect No. 3 option — a dominant rim runner and interior finisher, combined with elite rim protection and some nice ancillary skills.
Ayton is now one of the NBA’s top defensive bigs. He’s both enormous and fleet of foot, allowing Phoenix to switch screens and run different schemes depending on the matchup. Ayton averaged 1.2 blocks per game in his third NBA season, and despite a dip in scoring, saw his all-around game flourish in new ways entirely.