Chapter 825: The Ranking Is Indeed Unfair

Latest website: Time has entered September, and the fierce battle atmosphere in the NBA has become more and more intense.

When the Cleveland Cavaliers finally acquired "double-double machine" Kevin Love through a three-party trade, fans were looking forward to the new season starting as soon as possible.

Whenever the league landscape changes, fans will be extremely eager for the arrival of the new season. After all, for everyone, everything in the new season is full of freshness and suspense.

What kind of results can James achieve after returning to Cleveland? Can the Memphis Grizzlies create three consecutive championships? In addition to Link and James, will there be other game-breakers?

Countless suspense is brewing, which also whets the appetite of fans.

ESPN will naturally not let go of fans' expectations for the new season, so as September has just entered, ESPN has begun to launch a series of rankings of the top 50 stars in the new season.

Like last season, ESPN will launch 10 stars every day, from 50th to 1st, and announced in five days in order from low to high.

Then, same as last season. On the surface, the Grizzlies, who seem to have no stars except for Link, have once again become the team with the largest number of stars selected.

On the first day the rankings were released, there were Grizzlies players on the list.

Zach Randolph, who took a salary cut this summer and is already 33 years old, was ranked 43rd by ESPN. Compared with the ranking before the start of last season, it has dropped 9 places, but it is still among the top 50. For a veteran whose reputation is no longer that great, this ranking is already quite high.

The main reason why Randolph's ranking dropped 9 spots is because his offensive efficiency last season was greatly reduced.

As the Grizzlies' top singles option in the paint, the "Big Black Bear" received only 46% of his assists last season, which was far lower than players at the same position. He doesn't have enough height and doesn't have excellent running awareness. His jumping height is basically a brick's distance from the ground. He relies solely on the terrifying upper body strength to dig in, which makes him easy to be surrounded and suppressed. Randolph had more than 10% of his shots blocked last season, and his jump shot block rate was as high as 8%.

These data all point to one question - Randolph is really old.

The prodigal son who once dominated Portland, New York and Los Angeles is no longer young.

Although Randolph is still ranked 43rd among the 50 Greatest Stars in the new season, ESPN also expressed concern about Randolph's offensive performance in the new season.

Randolph's offensive firepower is declining, this is an indisputable fact. As a result, Link's offensive pressure is bound to increase greatly.

Although Randolph's ranking has dropped a lot compared to last season, many fans still can't understand, "Randolph is still on the list now?"

The next day, there were still Grizzlies players on the list, and there were still two. However, the two men still caused huge controversy.

Before the start of last season, Iguodala ranked 29th, two spots higher than Billard.

But this year, Iguodala dropped 10 places directly, ranking 39th! The reason is simple. Iguodala's data experienced a sharp decline last season, almost losing his star aura.

But ESPN is not stupid. They know that Iguodala's role in the Grizzlies cannot be judged by data. They know that Iguodala is a huge help to the Grizzlies in areas other than statistics.

However, due to the decline in data, Iguodala's ranking was lowered by 10 places.

However, as a player with mediocre statistics, many fans are puzzled by Iguodala's ranking. Regarding Iguodala's performance last season, people thought that he was not far behind in the 40s, but he was actually ranked in the top 40.

Ranked 31st is Mike Conley, who is currently the only Grizzlies player to rise in the rankings, a few more double figures than last season's 36th.

ESPN's evaluation of Conley is as unpretentious as his playing style, "Mike Conley's abilities in all aspects are not top-notch among point guards. He does not have Paul's cool ball handling and passing, and he does not have Curry's shooting range." He doesn’t have the physical fitness of Westbrook. But his biggest advantage is that he has no obvious shortcomings.”

Even though Conley's 31st ranking and ESPN's evaluation of him are low-key enough, he can't escape the doubts of fans.

The reason is simple. This year, ESPN only ranked Kobe 32nd, and Conley was just ahead of Kobe... You know, in the past four years, Kobe's ranking has never been lower than 9th.

Conley is also very innocent. It's not good to be ranked in front of anyone, but he is ranked in front of Kobe... But Conley doesn't know yet that he is not the most controversial Grizzlies player in the ranking.

The most controversial thing is Marc Gasol, who was ranked 24th!

At first glance, the result of 24th place does not seem too high. But when people discovered that Kawhi Leonard was only ranked 27th, Wade was only 28th, and Ibaka was only 30th, many people felt that Gasol's ranking was too high.

"Gasol's statistics don't have many highlights. He scored less than 16 points every 36 minutes and his rebound rate was only 12.7%. Although he is 2.16 meters tall, his positioning is not good. He also ranks at the center position in blocking shots every 48 minutes. Middle and lower reaches. Who can tell me why he can be ahead of Ibaka and others?"

"It's too obvious that ESPN is kneeling down to the defending champion. The Grizzlies players are obviously ranked too high! That old guy Randolph is still selected, Conley is ranked ahead of Kobe, and Gasol is ranked 24th! Oh my God, this ranking list is not fair at all.”

"If you take away the halo of the defending champion, I don't know how many of these Grizzlies players will appear here."

Gasol was like a lead, completely detonating outside public opinion. From Randolph to Gasol, almost all of the four Grizzlies players on the current rankings have been questioned.

On the contrary, Link, who ranked first in the end, received no criticism.

This year, the top three of the top 50 superstars in the new season are the same as last year. Link, James and Durant are still the three pillars. Durant has been the third player for ten thousand years since he was the second player in a thousand years.

But what is different from last year is that everyone seems to recognize Link's top spot. As a player who won almost every heavyweight individual honor last season and broke a bunch of records, it is understandable that Link ranks at the top of the top 50 superstars in the new season.

But people only recognized Link. The other four selected players from the Grizzlies were all labeled as "not qualified".

"Link is indeed a superstar, he is really good. But in my opinion, he is also the only superstar for the Grizzlies."

"Randolph, Conley, Gasol and Iguodala all owe a lot to Link. Only Link is the only Grizzlies player on this list who deserves his name, and the selection of the others is really It’s confusing.”

"ESPN wants to curry favor with the defending champion, but this way of currying favor is really disgusting. All the Grizzlies' starting five were selected into the top 50 for the new season... This is simply too exaggerated. Many of them are not at all Not qualified!"

"The Cleveland Cavaliers have 3 players selected, James is ranked 2nd, Love is ranked 8th, and Irving is ranked 18th. In my opinion, this is the truly objective ranking. If the defending champion last season was the Cavaliers, I estimate The Cavaliers can also select five or six players. But don't worry, after the season starts, people will be able to see how powerless the other four stars of the Grizzlies are in front of the three stars of the Cavaliers."

After the rankings were announced, the Memphis Grizzlies once again became the focus of controversy. On the first day of training camp for the new season, Link was also asked this question when being interviewed by reporters at the entrance of FedEx Arena.

"What do you think of ESPN's ranking? Well... I must admit that this list is indeed unfair." Facing the camera, Link touched his chin seriously.

The reporters instantly became excited. Is it possible that even Link thinks the Grizzlies players are ranked too high?

However, when the reporters happily put the microphone to Link's mouth, Link told them with a serious face, "In my opinion, the Grizzlies should have at least 6 to 7 players selected for the top 50 in the new season. However, ESPN only selected 5. Isn’t this unfair?”

Seeing the reporters' expressions change from anticipation to shock, Link smiled with satisfaction.

A day in the life of a great villain is so simple and irrelevant!

Link knew that his words would definitely get him scolded bloody.

But that doesn't matter, as the comments on the Internet said. When the new season starts in one and a half months, everyone will naturally know whether what they said is true.

Speaking of which, in the first game of this year's new season opener, the league arranged for the Grizzlies and Cavaliers to face off...

What a chance to shut everyone up.