Minnesota Sports Forum

This is ESPN's annual NBA player ranking heading into the 2021-2022 season. I will note that these lists are very subjective and mean little at the end of the day, but they do provide an outside opinion on where Minnesota's players rank amongst the rest of the league.

Personally, I think Karl-Anthony Towns is ranked appropriately, but I can easily see him being in the 10-15 range when they make the 2022-2023 list. I think Anthony Edwards is ranked too high and D'Angelo Russell is ranked too low. I also thought Malik Beasley and Jaden McDaniels should have snuck their way on to the list considering this list is projecting their performance for the upcoming season.

Regardless, I thought it would be interesting to transfer the list here for discussion. I have bolded those that I found relevant given the state of the Wolves franchise and included additional writing from the article itself.

ESPN's Top-100 (2021-2022):
1. Kevin Durant (2020 rank: 6)
2. Giannis Antetokounmpo (2020 rank: 3)
3. LeBron James (2020 rank: 1)
4. Luka Doncic (2020 rank: 4)
5. Steph Curry (2020 rank: 8.)
6. Nikola Jokic (2020 rank: 10)
7. Joel Embiid (2020 rank: 14)
8. Damian Lillard (2020 rank: 7)
9. Anthony Davis (2020 rank: 2)
10. James Harden (2020 rank: 9)
11. Bradley Beal (2020 rank: 22)
12. Paul George (2020 rank: 20)
13. Chris Paul (2020 rank: 15)
14. Jayson Tatum (2020 rank: 11)
15. Devin Booker (2020 rank: 17)
16. Jimmy Butler (2020 rank: 12)
17. Trae Young (2020 rank: 29)
18. Donovan Mitchell (2020 rank: 18)
19. Khris Middleton (2020 rank: 35)
20. Kyrie Irving (2020 rank: 25)
21. Bam Adebayo (2020 rank: 13)
22. Jrue Holiday (2020 rank: 33)
23. Zion Williamson (2020 rank: 19)
24. Karl-Anthony Towns (2020 rank: 23)

- Cause for concern: The question surrounding Minnesota's hyper-talented big man has never been his offense. The simple reason Towns is not higher on this list lies on the other end of the court. Centers are the most important defensive players in the NBA right now, and Minnesota had one of the worst defenses in the league last year. Even with their All-Star big man on the floor, the Wolves posted a woeful defensive rating of 114.7 last year. Unless Towns and the Wolves can fix their defense, they will be in the lottery once again. -- Kirk Goldsberry

25. Rudy Gobert (2020 rank: 26)
26. Brandon Ingram (2020 rank: 28)
27. Jaylen Brown (2020 rank: 32)
28. Ben Simmons (2020 rank: 16)

- One thing to watch for: Simmons would like a fresh start on a new team after a disastrous playoff performance last spring that highlighted his weaknesses as a shooter. Philadelphia has looked for a trade that returns even a modicum of value for the former No. 1 overall pick, who finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting last season. But so far, the Sixers haven't found any offer they feel good about. If Simmons really doesn't show up to training camp, as he has threatened, this could get even uglier. -- Ramona Shelburne

29. Russell Westbrook (2020 rank: 36)
30. C.J. McCollum (2020 rank: 27)
31. Ja Morant (2020 rank: 31)
32. Klay Thompson (2020 rank: NR)
33. Zach LaVine (2020 rank: 56)
34. De'Aaron Fox (2020 rank: 34)
35. DeAndre Ayton (2020 rank: 52)
36. Shia Gilgeous-Alexander (2020 rank: 38)
37. Draymond Green (2020 rank: 44)
38. Pascal Siakam (2020 rank: 24)
39. Nikola Vucevic (2020 rank: 42)
40. Domantas Sabonis (2020 rank: 50)
41. Michael Porter Jr. (2020 rank: 51)
42. Julius Randle (2020 rank: NR)
43. Kyle Lowry (2020 rank: 30)
44. Myles Turner (2020 rank: 74)
45. DeMar DeRozan (2020 rank: 82)
46. Tobias Harris (2020 rank: 57)
47. LaMelo Ball (2020 rank: NR)

- One thing to watch for: Ball dazzled with his magical passing ability and all-around basketball instincts during his Rookie of the Year campaign. It will be interesting to see how his body has evolved, whether he can sustain his 35.2% 3-point shooting clip and how he progresses as a finisher -- he ranked in the 27th percentile on shots at the rim last season. How Ball fits alongside 11th overall pick James Bouknight, a gifted scorer who has been most effective with the ball in his hands, is also an early storyline worth monitoring. If Ball can help turn the Hornets into a true playoff contender, he'll surely live up to the hype as one of the top under-21 players in the NBA. -- Mike Schmitz

48. Mike Conley (2020 rank: 71)
49. Marcus Smart (2020 rank: 37)
50. Kristaps Porzingis (2020 rank: 41)
51. Buddy Hield (2020 rank: 87)
52. Anthony Edwards (2020 rank: NR)

- One big question: Can he become an All-Star in his second year? It's no secret that Edwards is already one of the NBA's most dynamic scorers, so expect several 40-point games during his sophomore campaign, highlighted by powerful drives to the rim and deep step-back 3s. What could catapult Edwards into All-Star territory is if he's able to help turn Minnesota into a winner with a full season alongside Karl Anthony Towns and D'Angelo Russell. To do that, Edwards will have to buy in on the defensive end (the Timberwolves finished 28th there last season) and continue evolving as a decision maker. Edwards has 25-5-5 potential and the talent to lead the NBA in scoring. -- Mike Schmitz

53. Jerami Grant (2020 rank: 88)
54. John Collins (2020 rank: 84)
55. Clint Capela (2020 rank: NR)
56. Fred VanVleet (2020 rank: 40)
57. Lonzo Ball (2020 rank: 54)
58. Gordon Hayward (2020 rank: 45)
59. Collin Sexton (2020 rank: NR)
60. Christian Wood (2020 rank: 55)
61. Jarrett Allen (2020 rank: 96)
62. Joe Ingles (2020 rank: 89)
63. D'Angelo Russell (2020 rank: 69)

- One big question: Can he stay healthy for an entire season? Because of injuries, the former No. 2 overall pick has been in and out of the lineup since being traded to Minnesota in February 2020. But in his last 22 games, Russell showed promise alongside Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards. If the 25-year-old can stay healthy and return to All-Star form, he could prove to be one of the best young point guards in the game. -- Baxter Holmes

64. Bogdan Bogdanovic (2020 rank: 62)
65. Malcolm Brogdon (2020 rank: 39)
66. Mikal Bridges (2020 rank: NR)
67. Bojan Bogdanovic (2020 rank: 73)
68. Spencer Dinwiddie (2020 rank: 49)
69. Aaron Gordon (2020 rank: 78)
70. Kemba Walker (2020 rank: 48)
71. Jaren Jackson Jr. (2020 rank: 43)
72. OG Anunoby (2020 rank: 68)
73. Tyrese Haliburton (2020 rank: NR)
74. Jusuf Nurkic (2020 rank: 53)
75. Joe Harris (2020 rank: 100)
76. Cade Cunningham (2020 rank: NR)
77. Andrew Wiggins (2020 rank: NR)

- One big question: Can Wiggins replicate his two-way effort again for the Warriors? One of the biggest knocks on Wiggins after being acquired by the Warriors was whether he would provide the consistent effort on both ends of the floor that wasn't always apparent during his time with the Timberwolves. "Two-Way Wiggs" answered that question in his first full season with the Warriors -- drawing praise from coaches and teammates for his ability to change the game on the defensive end. -- Nick Friedell

78. Dillon Brooks (2020 rank: NR)
79. Tim Hardaway Jr. (2020 rank: NR)
80. Caris LeVert (2020 rank: 46)
81. Terry Rozier (2020 rank: NR)
82. Lauri Markkanen (2020 rank: NR)
83. Dejounte Murray (2020 rank: 83)
84. Darius Garland (2020 rank: NR)
85. John Wall (2020 rank: 81)
86. Devonte' Graham (2020 rank: NR)
87. Miles Bridges (2020 rank: NR)
88. Seth Curry (2020 rank: 91)
89. Robert Covington (2020 rank: 60)
90. Jordan Clarkson (2020 rank: NR)
91. Derrick Rose (2020 rank: NR)
92. Duncan Robinson (2020 rank: 75)
93. Mitchell Robinson (2020 rank: 92)
94. Jonas Valanciunas (2020 rank: NR)
95. Kevin Huerter (2020 rank: NR)
96. Jalen Green (2020 rank: NR)
97. Will Barton (2020 rank: NR)
98. Steven Adams (2020 rank: 70)
99. Danilo Gallinari (2020 rank: 85)
100. Norman Powell (2020 rank: NR)

Missing:
NR. Kawhi Leonard (2020 rank: 5)*
NR. Jamal Murray (2020 rank: 21)*

- Note: Due to knee injuries that will sideline both for most of the 2021-22 season, the L.A. Clippers' Kawhi Leonard and the Denver Nuggets' Jamal Murray were excluded from this season's rankings.

NR. Kevin Love (2020 rank: 64)
NR. Patrick Beverley (2020 rank: 90)
NR. Ricky Rubio (2020 rank: 93)
NR. Malik Beasley (2020 rank: NR)
NR. Naz Reid (2020 rank: NR)
NR. Jaden McDaniels (2020 rank: NR)
NR. Taurean Prince (2020 rank: NR)
NR. Jarred Vanderbilt (2020 rank: NR)

Good stuff Cam. A few comments....

- Very fair rating on KAT. He can't keep anchoring bottom 5 defenses year after year and be ranked much higher than this, no matter how good he is offensively.

- Edwards post-ASB is not THAT far off from Donovan Mitchell, who is ranked #18 overall. Ant was 24.3/5.5./3.4 at 57 TS% per 36 and Donovan is 28.5/4.8/5.6 at 57 TS%. So I'm not so sure he's being overvalued here coming off a strong 2nd half to last season with plenty of room to get better.

- DLO seems generous if you look at his past, but similar to Ant, he was more of a plus player in the latter half of the season so perhaps they feel he's trending in the right direction headed into this year. So far his career has been marked by some impressive skills on one end, only to give up more points on the other....He, Zach LaVine, and DeMar DeRozan are poster children for high scoring players whose teams almost always seem to do better when they are sitting on the bench. Defense matters.

- The whole two-way narrative on Wiggins is interesting. I'm not sure if he was that much better or was he in a system that narrowed his role enough where he didn't have to worry as much about being a leader, being a first option scorer, etc. and people's bar has been lowered on what they expect from him (despite his salary). You can certainly do a lot worse than Wiggins if you've got Curry, Draymond, and Klay all healthy this season.

Another transparent attempt by Cam to demonstrate that the DLO trade was a good one in the Wolves favor. He finds a report or stat that supports his stance and then presents it as if to say, here you go, this confirms what I've been saying. Over and over and over and over again. Why even include Wiggins in this? How about every other ex-Wolve? Well I'm done with it. This is the last post I am going to feed him on this topic. I'm done living rent free in his head. I am going on a permanent DLO bashing sabbatical, and any Wiggins comments I make will not be in the same context as Russell. The next time I rip on Russell is when he is thankfully no longer part of the roster.

First I have a question, with the year DLO had, how in the world does he move up 6 spaces? He misses most of the season and played horribly when the games really mattered at the beginning of the year? That makes no sense to me. I don't give a flying fuck about the last 22 games of the year when our improved rookies were just as much the reason for the better record. It's natural to view this with plenty of skepticism.

As far as Wiggins v Russell go, neither is significantly better than the other. Yes, Wig had the far better year last year mostly because he was available, but also because he played very well on both ends of the court. You all have your own opinion on which player is better, or which player you would rather have on the Wolves. But I know the overall impact of each is relatively the same. The problem is we gave up a lot more in the trade than just Wig. That draft compensation hurt us, those were real assets. It's why hardly anyone, myself included, thinks the Wolves came close to winning that trade. To come to that conclusion has to be the result of an agenda, period, exclamation point.

I apologize to the membership for my role in keeping this back and forth active. It's old, it's been done too many times, and I would guess I'm not the only one sick of it. There are too many good things going on with this franchise to stay mired in this low level discourse. I'm going to look forward to what should be one of the most enjoyable seasons in Minnesota for a long time. Go Wolves!

I think Russell was ranked about the same for the Sports Illustrated list. And Beasley made it to #94 on that list.

Interesting to see Dillon Brooks listed. As I've noted in the past, his advanced stats are HORRENDOUS... as in negative value. It would be interesting to see how he'd be viewed on a 22 - 60 team.

Q12543 wrote:Good stuff Cam. A few comments....

- Very fair rating on KAT. He can't keep anchoring bottom 5 defenses year after year and be ranked much higher than this, no matter how good he is offensively.

- Edwards post-ASB is not THAT far off from Donovan Mitchell, who is ranked #18 overall. Ant was 24.3/5.5./3.4 at 57 TS% per 36 and Donovan is 28.5/4.8/5.6 at 57 TS%. So I'm not so sure he's being overvalued here coming off a strong 2nd half to last season with plenty of room to get better.

- DLO seems generous if you look at his past, but similar to Ant, he was more of a plus player in the latter half of the season so perhaps they feel he's trending in the right direction headed into this year. So far his career has been marked by some impressive skills on one end, only to give up more points on the other....He, Zach LaVine, and DeMar DeRozan are poster children for high scoring players whose teams almost always seem to do better when they are sitting on the bench. Defense matters.

- The whole two-way narrative on Wiggins is interesting. I'm not sure if he was that much better or was he in a system that narrowed his role enough where he didn't have to worry as much about being a leader, being a first option scorer, etc. and people's bar has been lowered on what they expect from him (despite his salary). You can certainly do a lot worse than Wiggins if you've got Curry, Draymond, and Klay all healthy this season.

I agree with a lot of what you said here, Q.

How much higher would you rank Karl-Anthony Towns if he graded out as a league average defender? He'd have to be closing in on the top-10 given his immense production offensively, right? I say that because I don't think it's out of the question that he could make that kind of improvement defensively. He's definitely shown it in spurts, specifically to begin the year a couple seasons ago when the team started out 10-8 before he got injured, but we need to see it for an entire season.

I would say Anthony Edwards is ranked too high, or higher than I'd have him, based on who he's ahead of. I agree completely that he was a different player (scorer) during the second half and I continue to believe that's the player Edwards will be this year.

I'd say they were being cautious with D'Angelo Russell's ranking primarily due to his injuries and games missed rather than his actual talent and ability. If he's healthy, which is a big "if" at this point, and plays 70-plus games, I envision him being inside the top-40 on this list where he belongs. Where I specifically push back is your continued view of Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Russell based on a singular flawed metric that ignores the context of the game's setting, but we have debated that enough in the past. Defense matters, absolutely, but shot-creating, lead guard types are more difficult to find, which leads to an elevated value, in my opinion.

I think you hit the nail on the head when it pertains to Andrew Wiggins. I don't think his individual game improved a lick last year. I think his role completely changed as did the roster around him. Wiggins went from being a primary option on offense to a role-playing wing who was expected to defend, make open shots, and get out in transition. Golden State simplified the game for him while also having multiple Hall of Famers surround him in Steph Curry and Draymond Green -- both of which carried the load so that Wiggins would not have to on a nightly basis. That in itself led to one of Wiggins' best years of his career. Credit to him for playing within himself in his new role, but there's only so much he can provide a team.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:I think Russell was ranked about the same for the Sports Illustrated list. And Beasley made it to #94 on that list.

Interesting to see Dillon Brooks listed. As I've noted in the past, his advanced stats are HORRENDOUS... as in negative value. It would be interesting to see how he'd be viewed on a 22 - 60 team.

This is the Sports Illustrated ranking that you mentioned.

61. D'Angelo Russell, Minnesota Timberwolves

(Previous year rank: 46)

Russell has come down a bit from the high of his 2019 All-Star season with the Nets, particularly after injuries zapped much of his effectiveness in his most recent campaign with the Wolves. Russell's partnership with Karl-Anthony Towns is very promising, but defense and efficiency remain question marks for him moving forward. -- Rohan Nadkarni

This excerpt is fair. I expect that with better health he'll significantly outperform these rankings, though. We just need to see it at this point and I think D-Lo knows that as much as anyone.

I also think Malik Beasley being ranked 94th is about where he should be given the amount of talent in the league.

Camden wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Good stuff Cam. A few comments....

- Very fair rating on KAT. He can't keep anchoring bottom 5 defenses year after year and be ranked much higher than this, no matter how good he is offensively.

- Edwards post-ASB is not THAT far off from Donovan Mitchell, who is ranked #18 overall. Ant was 24.3/5.5./3.4 at 57 TS% per 36 and Donovan is 28.5/4.8/5.6 at 57 TS%. So I'm not so sure he's being overvalued here coming off a strong 2nd half to last season with plenty of room to get better.

- DLO seems generous if you look at his past, but similar to Ant, he was more of a plus player in the latter half of the season so perhaps they feel he's trending in the right direction headed into this year. So far his career has been marked by some impressive skills on one end, only to give up more points on the other....He, Zach LaVine, and DeMar DeRozan are poster children for high scoring players whose teams almost always seem to do better when they are sitting on the bench. Defense matters.

- The whole two-way narrative on Wiggins is interesting. I'm not sure if he was that much better or was he in a system that narrowed his role enough where he didn't have to worry as much about being a leader, being a first option scorer, etc. and people's bar has been lowered on what they expect from him (despite his salary). You can certainly do a lot worse than Wiggins if you've got Curry, Draymond, and Klay all healthy this season.

I agree with a lot of what you said here, Q.

How much higher would you rank Karl-Anthony Towns if he graded out as a league average defender? He'd have to be closing in on the top-10 given his immense production offensively, right? I say that because I don't think it's out of the question that he could make that kind of improvement defensively. He's definitely shown it in spurts, specifically to begin the year a couple seasons ago when the team started out 10-8 before he got injured, but we need to see it for an entire season.

I would say Anthony Edwards is ranked too high, or higher than I'd have him, based on who he's ahead of. I agree completely that he was a different player (scorer) during the second half and I continue to believe that's the player Edwards will be this year.

I'd say they were being cautious with D'Angelo Russell's ranking primarily due to his injuries and games missed rather than his actual talent and ability. If he's healthy, which is a big "if" at this point, and plays 70-plus games, I envision him being inside the top-40 on this list where he belongs. Where I specifically push back is your continued view of Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Russell based on a singular flawed metric that ignores the context of the game's setting, but we have debated that enough in the past. Defense matters, absolutely, but shot-creating, lead guard types are more difficult to find, which leads to an elevated value, in my opinion.

I think you hit the nail on the head when it pertains to Andrew Wiggins. I don't think his individual game improved a lick last year. I think his role completely changed as did the roster around him. Wiggins went from being a primary option on offense to a role-playing wing who was expected to defend, make open shots, and get out in transition. Golden State simplified the game for him while also having multiple Hall of Famers surround him in Steph Curry and Draymond Green -- both of which carried the load so that Wiggins would not have to on a nightly basis. That in itself led to one of Wiggins' best years of his career. Credit to him for playing within himself in his new role, but there's only so much he can provide a team.

With KAT, for me to put him in the Top 10 he has to mature as an overall player and leader, which I think in turn would translate to overall team defense. No more letting his emotions get the best of him. No more martyr-syndrome. Stay more disciplined overall - he makes a lot of stupid fouls. If he were to do these things and the team defense rose out of the bottom 10 and into the middle third, I'd put him at #9 or 10 above. So it can't just be him improving, but him creating a culture where defense matters. That means getting in DLO's ear if he has to, but first he needs to get his own house in order.