NBA Player Rankings: The top 25 players for 2014-15
By Seth Partnow
We Three Bigs
Not everyone on the list is huge scorer. Some of the very best players in the game can score when called upon but affect the game equally with energy, defense and passing. The following three big men exemplify these alternative ways to helping a team besides just putting the ball in the basket.
19. Joakim Noah – Last year’s Defensive Player of the Year, might actually be a touch overrated on that end, but only a touch. His runaway victory for the award was aided by the Pacers’ collapse throwing shade on Roy Hibbert and his own offensive brilliance despite not being much of a scorer. Noah’s is an unusually good passer for a big man and can handle the ball out on the floor a little as well. With the possibly reinvigorated Pau Gasol in Chicago and Derrick Rose returning to something like full health, Noah can resume his more accustomed role of offensive garbage man, defensive linchpin and all-around energetic maniac.
20. Marc Gasol – Much like Memphis teammate Conley, Gasol never seems to get his due. Part of it is that a player of his bulk and relative lack of agility isn’t thought of as “subtle.” But the younger Gasol’s talents are just that. A master of defensive angles, the best passing big man in the game (operating as something of a point-center from the elbow at times) and a clever scorer when needed, the Grizzlies had the winning percentage of a 56 win team in the 59 games Gasol played last season.
18. Serge Ibaka – Probably the closest thing to a “role player” on the entire list, Ibaka’s combination of offensive and defensive abilities is almost wholly unique in the league. In almost any lineup, he will be filling a secondary role for a team, but his combination of rim protection, quickness and ability to space the floor on offense allows him to have a role in just about any lineup. As an illustration, imagine almost any “limited” big man (Jefferson, Hibbert, Nikola Pekovic, Kevin Love, LeMarcus Aldridge and so on) in the league and consider who his ideal partner would be. For almost all of them, the answer is Serge Ibaka.