Link: https://nbarankings.theringer.com/
* Lauri Markkanen: #28
* Walker Kessler: #103
* Jordan Clarkson: #104
Ex-Jazzmen
* Donovan Mitchell: #15
* Rudy Gobert: #52
* Mike Conley: #76
* Bojan Bogdanovic: #77
* Jarred Vanderbilt: #123
Trade Value Rankings
* Lauri Markkanen: #32
* Walker Kessler: #31
Both in the “Group G “Too Young, Too Cheap, Too Good … Please Stop Calling Us”” section.
Personally, Lauri’s too low. He should be in the high-20’s (i.e., 20-23) at the least. He arguably had a better season than Jaylen Brown, Anthony Edwards, and Paul George. There are also a bunch of point guards that are harder to compare him to (Fox, Ja Morant, Trae Young, Brunson) along with a few versatile centers (Sabonis, Bam), but given the nature of these rankings, we’re kind of forced to rank these guys against each other. He also had a clearly better season than everyone below him.
Things get kind of hazier down where Walker and Jordan are. Starting at #78, the centers include Poeltl, Adams, Mitchell Robinson, Looney, Vucevic, Capela, Sengun, Zubac, and WCJ, then Walker. After him, the only center is Valanciunas at #115. Kessler’s impact and role are most similar to Poeltl, Adams, Robinson, Capela, and Zubac. I don’t think it’s crazy to say that Kessler has already surpassed 3 of those guys (the lowest of whom is Zubac at #95), but given we’ve only seen a season from him, I understand the ranker being conservative with putting him too high.
I’m not sure about Clarkson at #104. On one hand, some of the guys immediately above him, I’m really high on, like Walker Kessler, Josh Hart, Alex Caruso, and Immanuel Quickley. Not sure if I can justify putting him higher. Honestly, maybe the centers as a group (as mentioned in the previous paragraph) needed to be moved down.
by epoch_fail
1 Comment
Still love Donovan, but top 15 is kinda crazy for a dude that got handled by the Knicks in 5 games with some absolute stinkers. Unironically think Lauri might be legitimately better overall, but what Don is better at is super valuable (tough shot making and breaking down tight defense) so it’s easy to see why people still rate him higher. Next year might solidify it though, if Lauri takes another step I see no reason to have him outside of the top 15-20 conversation