The small forward position is one of the most intriguing in basketball, because it really takes a certain type of player to step into that position full time. Many small forwards are versatile enough to play other positions, but few guys that play other positions can step in as a small forward. Obviously LeBron can play four positions, many others can step in as a stretch 4 or slide over to the shooting guard spot, and most effective small forwards can defend any wing spot. However when it comes to putting a traditional guard at the small forward position, most don’t have the size to defend an opposing small forward one-on-one. Additionally if you slide a stretch power forward (Markieff Morris, Channing Frye, Jerebko) to the 3 spot, most don’t have the lateral quickness to stay with their man. The position spews out MVP candidates year after year (partially thanks to James being Iron Man), but is the least deep of any position in basketball. It could be argued for this reason that it’s the most important position to fill out on a roster. For this reason guys like Otto Porter, MKG, and Al-Farouq Aminu get snatched up too early in hopes that they’ll become franchise guys. Meanwhile players like Paul George, Parsons, and Kawhi fall much further than they should because pundits claim that because they lack one specific skill they have bust written all over them.
Before proceeding to list the games top small forwards, I’d like to mention that I’ve made a few new rules to my criteria on grading these guys. First, no rookies. While it seems likely that Jabari Parker, Wiggins, and a few dark horses will start for their respective teams, it seems unfair to grade players that have only played summer league ball against guys with actual NBA experience. Secondly, I initially was going directly off the ESPN.com depth chart for what guys play which positions. I’ve decided to allow for some changes for this. For starters, ESPN.com still hasn’t registered that Greg Monroe will sign his qualifying offer and will be a Piston this season. Additionally, guys like Giannis Alphabet will be what position I want them to be… cause I’m the boss. So here’s how it breaks down.
1. Lebron James – Cleveland Cavaliers
If by some chance you decided to enter a time portal and you’re actually reading this article from 2013, then you read that right. Lebron James… Cleveland Cavaliers. While all readers clearly have at least some basketball knowledge, there’s no reason to dive further into how it came about that LeBron elected to head back home, do I really need to dive much further into the reasoning for putting LeBron as my top guy on this list? Despite deservedly losing his MVP trophy to KD in 2014, LeBron is still the best basketball player in the world and at the top of his game. He’s an excellent defender with an absolute beast of a body and out of this world athleticism that seems to be going nowhere any time soon. In a so-called down year, James averaged 27, 7, and 6, while adding 1.5 steals continuing to fly into passing lanes. His ability to chase down blocked shots and turn it into easy points makes me drool thinking of him playing with a Dwight Howard or Ibaka type of rim protector. While I was excited to see him play with Wiggins and help to groom him into his side kick (I love Bill Simmons analogy of Wiggins being LeBron’s version of Pippen), I think LeBron will be just fine with playing alongside Love and Kyrie. James continues to miss only four or five games every season and typically these are games that he could play, but his team elects to let him nurse a minor injury or simply rest. It still pains me to admit how good LeBron is (I’ve always rooted against the guy even before he painted himself the villain with “Not one, not two, not three…”), but he’s been the best player in the world for most of his career. Now LeBron tries to change the storyline and become the hero that returned to the team he shunned to bring them glory. Will he do it? It seems impossible to see him not win at least one with the cast that came flocking to him to try to chase a ring.
2. Kevin Durant – Oklahoma City Thunder
As great of a job as your mom did KD, the truth is, you da real MVP. Durant played the best season of his career in the 2013-14 season and he still hasn’t peaked. He put his team on his back multiple times throughout the season. First when Westbrook injured himself, then towards the end of the season to help separate the Thunder from the Clippers, and again in the playoffs after the brutal injury to Ibaka to keep OKC’s title hopes alive. He needed a bit more help, and frankly could use a better coach. Not trying to say that everyone has to be Popovic, but would a coach like Pop really let this Thunder team go down in the playoffs? Hell nah. He averaged a career high 32 points, on an incredible 50%+ from the field (this guy has to WORK for every open look). The rest of his numbers were everything and more that he could ever be asked of. While LeBron has the most dominating play in the NBA, Durant has the most beautiful to watch. His unprecedented way of creating separation continually allows him to get open looks despite the defense knowing that he has to be their priority. While Durant still has room for improvement defensively, he’s nowhere near as bad as advertised and he doesn’t have to be a lock down defender to be the MVP. I feel worse for the Blazers each year for that botched pick, but as a team that has done great in nearly every draft the last ten years, they are allowed a few blunders.
3. Carmelo Anthony – New York Knicks
I really tried here initially to make a justified argument for why Kawhi Leonard is a better player than Melo, but it just can’t be reasonably done. Finals MVP, best wing defender, and an emerging offensive talent still isn’t enough to take out one of the best pure scorers in NBA history. At 30 years old Anthony is still at the height of his game. His scoring numbers still haven’t dropped off at all. The ability to score from anywhere on the court can’t be underestimated. He shot 45% last season and an incredible 40% from deep shooting over 5 attempts from three point range per game. With Stoudemire spending another season playing limited minutes recovering from injury, Tyson Chandler being on and off the floor, and Andrea Bargnani possessing and innate inability to ball, players shuffled positions for the Knicks last season forcing Melo to play plenty of power forward. While he’s more than capable to step in and dominate as a power forward, Anthony is still a small forward at heart. Still, playing more minutes at the four didn’t hurt Anthony in putting up a career high 8 rebounds per game. I’m still perplexed that someone with such a knack for scoring the basketball can only average 3 assists, but that has never been a strong part of Anthony’s game, and with him being on the other end of 30 it’s clear that it never will be. His defense is still not what you want from an MVP candidate, but with a new regime in New York an optimist would think that this is the season that he finally improves that aspect of his game.
4. Kawhi Leonard – San Antonio Spurs
The final MVP of last season finishes just outside the top three and as is typical with a great defensive talent, the numbers don’t tell the whole story. Leonard improved in every facet of the game in 2014, which is to be expect from a third year player. Did anyone expect him to be THIS good though? He’s in a different world defensively than any of the guys listed above him. LeBron couldn’t defend LeBron as well as Leonard did in the finals. Leonard proved to never be the offensive liability that draft pundits unfairly tagged him as heading into the 2011 draft. At times he is a go-to scorer for the Spurs and last season he demonstrated better than ever an ability to create his own shot. 38% shooting from deep is better than anyone ever expected, and yes most of his three’s are wide open because the Spurs have the most gorgeous ball movement anyone’s ever seen, but he’s still knocking them down at a consistent enough clip. I don’t have concerns yet about health issues for Leonard, but the fact that he missed 40 combined games the last two seasons in the ONLY thing that raises some flags about him. After this season Leonard will get his max contract and unlike some other small forwards that received one this year, Leonard actually deserves it.
5. Nicolas Batum – Portland Trailblazers
An argument can no doubt be made that Batum should be higher on this list. Hell, if you swap teams between Leonard and Batum, then Batum is most likely the finals MVP last season. Batum is the prototypical small forward. Ranking him vs Leonard is a damn near coin flip. From a pure statistical standpoint Batum edges out Leonard, but the Spurs play a much deeper rotation than Portland, and looking at the per 36 makes those skewed stats look a lot more even. Much like Leonard, Batum defends the opposing teams best wing on a nightly basis and is one of the top wing defenders in the whole league. He can score consistently enough and his passing has made huge strides. Two seasons ago he averaged just 1.4 assists per game and since then that number has ballooned to over 5. Looking at Batum’s contract shows how much small forward contracts got inflated last season. Batum signed in 2012 to earn $46 mill over 4 seasons. To put that into perspective, Parsons will make that amount in just three seasons and Hayward will make a staggering $63 mill over four seasons. As opposed to the two guys listed prior, Batum actually plays defense. Guys like Batum are nearly impossible to find and yet they still somehow end up underrated. He may not be as flashy as some of the guys below him, but he’s no doubt more effective and definitely belongs no further down than where I have him.
6. Luol Deng – Miami Heat
Deng is able to edge out the new contract guys of 2014, because much like the 2 guys directly above him, he’s a top wing defender. He proved well before the Thibodeau era that he’s an effective defender, so there’s really no concern that his defense will drop off in Miami. Much like any fan that wants to watch good basketball, I watched nearly none of his games in a Cavs uniform so I don’t really have a good idea of how he looked the second half of last season. Regardless the drop in his numbers after the trade get a pass for three reasons; 1) it’s typical for anyone traded mid season to regress statistically, 2) he was brought to Cleveland to try to mend one of the most dysfunctional locker rooms in NBA history, 3) he was shooting less shots in Cleveland. Deng goes into a good situation in Miami to emerge as a go-to guy as Wade will still certainly still be taking nights off. It’s up to Deng to bring the defensive mentality to keep the focus as being a defensive unit, but he’ll be relied on heavily on offense as well. At this stage in his career I’d much rather watch Deng on a championship contender, but as you can see by the guys listed above, many of the legit contenders already have this position locked up.
7. Chandler Parsons – Dallas Mavericks
I toyed with many different ideas here at seven. I had an entire write up about DeMar DeRozan written up before ultimately deciding he’s a shooting guard. There are guys that will fall out of the top ten that I considered here. The fact that Chandler Parsons went from being the most underpaid player to possibly the most overpaid in the matter of a night at the club with Cuban doesn’t negate the fact that he’s still a great basketball player. Is he a franchise guy? No way. Is he worth the money the Mavs threw at him? Not even close. Will he take a Hollywood modeling lifestyle more seriously than his basketball career? Probably not, but it’s fun to joke about. As someone who watched nearly every Rockets game last season, I can confirm he’s a gifted offensive player and he’s not a guy that simply let his stars create for him. He can create on his own. After a terrific rookie season making his way into the rotation by playing stellar defense, Parsons wisely realized that unfortunately defense isn’t what always gets you the most money in this league. He put defense aside to expend most of his energy on the offensive end, and ultimately it got him that max contract. Harden got the bad rap for being a terrible defender in 2014, but Parsons gave a similar effort on that end. For him to be worthy of that max contract, Carlisle will have to push him to start giving an effort again defensively.
8. Trevor Ariza – Houston Rockets
The only reason that Ariza drops off to eight on this list when he could be higher is because he still hasn’t had a great season in a non contract year. Offensively he had the best season of his career by far last year. He averaged just half a point shy of his career high (which coincidentally was in his first Houston stint), but more importantly took his shooting to new heights. He shot over 40% from deep and joining a Rockets team that shoots more three pointers than any other team, if he can give that kind of consistency, that alone makes him worth the signing. The fact that Ariza is in another world defensively over Parsons makes it clear that if Ariza can give the output he provided for Washington then the Rockets clearly upgraded at small forward for half the price of what Parsons got. With everything that’s been said thus far here it would seem that Ariza should be ranked higher than Parsons, but Parsons has been more consistent the last three seasons which gives him the slight nod over Ariza for now. When the seasons all said and done, Daryl Morey will once again have shown his brilliance by electing not to match on Parsons which upgrades the Rockets defensively at a discounted price.
9. Rudy Gay – Sacramento Kings
I’m still a Rudy Gay believer, but the trend of teams trading Gay away and getting better from doing it is still in effect. The Raptors showed that to the max last season by finishing as a four seed after starting 6-12 before trading Gay to Sacramento. Not to mention Gay led the Raptors in usage rate before the trade. If he can learn to play within himself and within a system he could be a perfect glue guy for any team. He’s not a superstar that’s going to carry a team on his back. He would have done that already if he had that kind of potential. His defense is good enough when he wants it to be, but as a guy who’s been on bad teams the last season and a half, he takes nights off on defense. The problem with Gay has been the same his entire career though. The dude is a chucker. He tries to take over a game and he simply doesn’t have the talent to do that the way that the top three guys on this list do. The Kings really don’t have the talent for Gay to take a backseat as a secondary player. As much as I’m in love with Cousins’ game, it really didn’t mesh with Gay’s last season. For him to really shine he needs a legit playoff team to take a chance on him, but also needs to know his role. His biggest limitation throughout his career has been not knowing his role, so it’s understandable that playoff teams are hesitant to give him that opportunity.
10. Andre Iguodala – Golden State Warriors
Iggy edges his way into the top ten despite a significant statistical drop off after getting his pay day last year, because he’s still a great defender. Averaging just 9.3 points and missing 19 games last season has to be considered a disappointment for the Warriors, but they didn’t completely handicap themselves with that contract. Once again, when you consider what Parsons and Hayward got paid this off season, Iggy for about $35 mill over the next three years really doesn’t look that bad. The statistical drop off can be attributed more to not having to carry the load for the Warriors back court like he had to for his previous two teams. He’s definitely lost some explosiveness, but he really doesn’t rely on athleticism to defend. His field goal percentage was the best he’s been since his second year in the league, which can partially be credited to a plethora of scorers around him helping to get open looks. Iggy wasn’t brought to Golden State to be their first, second, or even third scorer. He was brought into shore up a defensive back court that needed help. He was just fine in that role, and still hit some of the most clutch shots of last season.
11. Josh Smith – Detroit Pistons
12. Gordon Hayward – Utah Jazz
13. Paul Pierce – Washington Wizards
14. Nick Young – Los Angeles Lakers
15. Demarre Carroll – Atlanta Hawks
We all love to criticize Josh Smith for his reluctance to realize that he’s not a damn shooter… and rightfully so. This somehow gives him the reputation that he’s not a good basketball player, which is very false. Smith is more than just a highlight shot blocker, he’s one of the best perimeter defenders in basketball. Much like was said about Rudy Gay, if Smith could learn to play within himself he’d be much better. With Van Gundy joining the front office, Pistons fans can at least be hopeful that he’ll be able to get the most out of him. Van Gundy has assured Smith (per Wojnarowski) that he’s staying in Detroit, but whether that’s because he wants him there, or because there’s a lack of a market for him is tough to say. Moving onto Hayward makes me wonder why I gave the Jazz a high off season grade. The guy got overpaid more than even Parsons, and analyzing his game makes me realize, not only is he not a max contract guy… he’s not even close. Hayward is the team’s go-to scorer and his true shooting percentage has dropped every year he’s been in the league. Last season he dropped outside of the top 100 with a TS% of 52% according to basketball-reference.com. He’s also a poor defender. The market for small forwards was weird enough, but it makes me really wonder why they felt obligated to keep him around. Do the Jazz really have to corner the market on every white guy? Pierce is starting to show his age, but he will be an exciting player to watch with the Wizards. Pierce’s game has always relied more on his basketball IQ, fakes, and craftiness, as opposed to athleticism, so the Wizards is a perfect fit for him. He won’t be forced to create his own shot as much as he had to with the Nets roster. That finally brings us to Swaggy P who posted a career high with 17.9 points. Whether his game will be able to coexist with Kobe’s will be an interesting topic to watch this coming season. It certainly looks like Young and Kobe will both be starters and at the very least they’ll share a lot of court time next year. Finally Demarre Carroll turned out to have the best season of his career last year. He was brought in to be a defensive stopper, but was more effective offensively than was expected as well. He mostly took open shots, but to shoot 36% on 3.7 attempts from deep per game is the best possible outcome for him.
16. Jeff Green – Boston Celtics
17. Terrence Ross – Toronto Raptors
18. Danilo Gallinari – Denver Nuggets
19. Mike Dunleavy – Chicago Bulls
20. Tyreke Evans – New Orleans Pelicans
This next section was difficult to put together and think that it’s even remotely accurate. Green put up a lot of points on a terrible team. Ross was the best wing defender on a good team. Evans was the same Evans that he was in Sacramento. Danny hasn’t played in over a year. Dunleavy’s been the same player his entire career except for his mini breakout for a year in Indiana. So that’s how this section shakes out? When it gets to this middle portion it’s really a crapshoot. Green could get traded and be a perfect fit for his new team. Ross could (and likely will) have his breakout season and may get close to being a top ten guy. Gallinari could get right back into his normal form and be right in that same range. So the top three guys here could all be a lot higher, or potentially a bit lower. With Dunleavy and Tyreke, more or less you know what you’re gonna get. I don’t want any of you stat guys coming at me about Evans with your 15/5/5 crap. He’s just not that good of a player. His most promising (and best statistical) season came as a rookie, when we actually thought that he might be better than Harden. He’s a poor defender and he can’t shoot. Two pretty key parts of basketball right there. So don’t come at me, Tyreke people. You’re lucky I didn’t drop him further. With Green and Dunleavy at least you know what you’re getting. With Ross you have a great defender that’s oozing with offensive potential. With Gallinari, you know what he’s capable of if the guy can be healthy. I’m sorry, but there’s just no reason that Evans should be throwing up 12.5 shots per game for that team. Okay I’m done. Let’s stop bashing Evans. Let’s move on.
21. Corey Brewer – Minnesota Timberwolves
22. PJ Tucker – Phoenix Suns
23. Matt Barnes – Los Angeles Clippers
24. Andrei Kirilenko – Brooklyn Nets
25. Giannis Antetokounmpo – Milwaukee Bucks
Corey Brewer is another player that would be an ideal player for teams lacking perimeter defense, but finds himself stuck in Minnesota. With Wiggins on his way to Minny, it’s tough to say what the future actually holds for Brewer, but it’ll be tough for them to unload any of their overpaid wings (can you believe they owe Chase Budinger $5 mill each of the next two years?). If they can unload him he’s a great fit for a contender, but it’s tough to imagine a team willing to pay that kind of money for some defense off the bench. PJ Tucker is a guy that feels a bit underrated on this list to me after a very nice season for the Suns. He provides good defense and is an above average rebounder at his position. Still, a small sample size of good play isn’t enough to get into the top 20. Barnes is still a good defender and vocal leader for the Clips, but as a journey man his whole career always seems to be a guy on the brink of being replaced. This happened last season when the Clippers brought in Granger, but Barnes was able to step up and prove his worth. As a three and D guys he may be better suited coming off the bench, but the Clips have no one better to play in front of him. Kirilenko was supposed to be an absolute steal for the Nets at just over $3 mill per year for two seasons, but found himself playing while recovering from an injury last season and was unable to provide much of anything on either end of the floor. He could be a player to watch this year and will be a key player to any success this year as they lose Paul Pierce, AK-47 will have a significantly increased role. The Alphabet (I’m not doing all that work to spell his name again) could sky rocket up this list and is still oozing with potential, but his rookie season was spent more as a learning season. It really was his first time playing basketball against any kind of actual competition. That’s a good sign for him. Looking back, he’d be nearly a lock to be the number one pick in a re-draft, so that’s pretty darn good for a guy who slipped just outside the lottery. It’s most likely that Parker will actually start at small forward, so we’ll see what that holds for Antetokounmpo (HEY, you got me to spell his name again!) but most likely he’ll be a starter for this team that just wants to develop young talent.
26. Tayshaun Prince – Memphis Grizzlies
27. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – Charlotte Hornets
28. Hollis Thompson – Philadelphia 76ers
29. Maurice Harkless – Orlando Magic
30. Whoever the hell the Pacers start – Indiana Pacers
With this final tier of guys it gets really bad. It also gets really unclear on whether any of these guys will even start (especially that Indiana guy). Prince was pretty useless last year for Memphis (while acquiring him was pretty much a Rudy Gay cap dump). If there’s a team that can still get use out of a player like Prince as a starter it’s Memphis, but at this point it seems more likely that they go with some combination of Lee/Carter or Lee/Allen. MKG is a decent defender, but still overrated on that aspect (I don’t expect ya to shut out LeBron, but you can’t let him go for 60 and call him elite). His offense is terrible, really just because he can’t shoot. When he gets to the rack he can finish, and his mid range isn’t nearly as terrible as his three ball, but his uglier than unorthodox shooting stroke has been used for so long that it’s hard to imagine it ever being effective. Hollis Thompson is one of the many d-league caliber guys that Sixers rolled out last season, and for what it’s worth he did a pretty nice job. He was a good spot up shooter for them, but isn’t an NBA caliber starter (this is from me doing research, you don’t think I actually watch Philly play last year after the first month do you?). The Harkless experiment is likely coming to an end in Orlando, but at the moment he seems to be their guy. Is Gordon ready to step into the starting role right away? Maybe, but I made the rule NO ROOKIES on this list!! Otherwise it could be Tobias Harris sliding over to play the three. He’d certainly be higher on this list than Harkless, but Harris is no doubt better suited for the power forward spot from when I’ve watched him. Meanwhile ya just gotta feel for Paul George as well as the Pacers. It looks like George will make a full recovery, but of course he’s at least a year away. Just watching that injury is enough to make anybody queasy, but the fact that he actually had to suffer it is much worse. Whether it’s a filler free agent, Solomon Hill or even Chris Copeland filling the role as the starter it won’t be easy to fill. The Pacers best player went down and at a position that they have the least depth. Here’s to George coming back stronger than ever. With that, take a shot in honor of Paul George, and if you made it all the way to the end, thanks for reading this.
Stay tuned for shooting guard rankings next Sunday, August 31st.
Dropping Dimes 