Minnesota Sports Forum

League Ranking from last season, first Butler, then KAT:

PER - #13, #11
Win Shares - #3, #7
Win Shares/48 - #6, #16
Box Plus/Minus - #10, #17
VORP - #5, #11
Real Plus Minus - #7, #51

Butler is top 10 in everything except PER. I always thought of him as top 15, but damn, as LST pointed out earlier today, he had a hell of a season last year. I think his team's lack of success last year along with the fact that Butler has sort of been creeping up on greatness over many years obscures what kind of year he had. I'm comfortable saying that he is indeed a top 10 player!

KAT....not yet. And he REALLY gets killed by ESPN's RPM metric because he is ranked terribly on defense.

I think it's not far-fetched to say we will end the season with two top 10 players...with a 20-point scoring Wig also. KAT is entering his third season, and that's typically when players take a big leap. KAT was a plus defender in college, and I expect his leap this year to be on the defensive end. There were times his rookie season when I could see his enormous defensive potential, and it was usually when KG was on the court with him. I don't think we should discount the idea that having Gibson and Butler on the court with him may have some of the impact KG had. For the second year in a row, KAT was the selection of most GMs for player they would like to build their team around, so they must recognize his defensive potential too. If he can dramatically improve his RPM, and I think he will, he is a good bet to be a top 10 guy.

Charles Barkley just said KAT is going to become the best player in the game over the next 5-7 years. Lofty praise from the chuckster.