The top 100 rankings of Bleacher Report players in the 2019-20 NBA season Bleacher report

55. Serge Ibaka, Toronto Raptors

Serge Ibaka’s evolution probably follows quite close to that of the central position. In its first three seasons, it only attempted six three. During his first six seasons, he averaged 0.7 three-point attempts and 2.6 blocks topping the leader board.

Over the 2019-2020 period, Ibaka averaged 16.0 career points and scored 39.8 percent of 3.3 three-point attempts per game. For the first time in his career, he produced less than one block per game.

Ibaka is a completely different player than he was at the beginning of his career. And its ability to space the floor from 5 opens up the paint to cut by players like Kyle Lowry and Pascal Siakam.

When all three are on the ground, the Raptors outperform their opponents by 8.8 points per 100 possessions and publish a defensive score that ranks in the 92nd percentile.

Ibaka is a more offensive player than he was at the beginning of his career, but that doesn’t mean he can’t defend yet. In those formations above, he and Siakam are both able to cover the inside or switch to smaller players on the perimeter. Their combined length helps compensate for the lack of size from a defense zone that includes 6’0 “Lowry and 6’1” Fred VanVleet.

54. Marcus Smart, Boston Celtics

Few players have the topic of advanced statistics better than Marcus Smart. For the fifth time in six NBA seasons, it is posting a lower than average percentage of effective goals. He is making a career with a high score, but 13.5 is not a number that jumps off the screen. Across the board, its base numbers seem relatively modest.

But when you watch the Boston Celtics play, it’s clear that Smart is one of those “do all the little things” people. He can reliably defend four positions (sometimes five, depending on the opponent). He never enjoys himself. He makes intelligent readings as a director. And it doesn’t require a lot of touches up front.

It was all true in 2019-2020. Boston’s net rating is 0.5 points per 100 goods better with Smart on the floor.

53. DeMar DeRozan, San Antonio Spurs

DeMar The net impact of DeRozan is under siege, even more than last summer. His is a troubled value. He does whatever is deemed most important, starting to offend both himself and others, but the terms of his commitment are so outdated that they leave a footprint only in specific circumstances.

The good remains really good. DeRozan is an intuitive marker and passer-by outside the pick-and-roll. He can still manipulate the defenses with his change of pace, and teams will usually look for options no. 1 forever under control.

Only seven other players have averaged over 20 points and five assists as they match DeRozan’s true shot rate, a list that reads mostly as one of the top 25 stars: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Devin Booker, James Harden , Kyrie Irving, Nikola Jokic, Damian Lillard and Trae Young.

However, not all effective crimes are created equal. DeRozan reaches the limit more often and is within the 99th percentile of the foul percentage shot, but is still a defect on the distance of his team.
Nearly two-thirds of his field goal attempts come from midfield, and the San Antonio Spurs don’t even bother to get him shot at three.

Star markers deserve certain freedoms. The midrange isn’t dead so readily available only to a select few, including DeRozan. Create enough of his hits and, this season, hit enough of his intermediate looks to make them fly.

Building an entire offense around someone who plays this way is still difficult. Like the three pointers, mid-range jumpers have a high variance, but with a lower payoff. Living on them is a fragile existence. It is even more subdued when a team does not generate the necessary spacing to ensure that the looks are of the best possible quality.

DeRozan struggled with thinner margins until LaMarcus Aldridge started bombing three more. And even since then, the Spurs have been 3.7 points per 100 better assets with him off the floor. (His defense is a problem.)

Some teams have the necessary footage to optimize DeRozan. But to what end? Customizing the shifts around the floor-raisers is always a nebulous feat and since the gap between what DeRozan does best and what the league’s values ​​continue to widen, its ability to lift a post-season contender will only decrease.

52. Paul Millsap, Denver Nuggets

Paul Millsap’s role is nowhere near what he was during his All-Star campaigns with the Atlanta Hawks. He is 35 years old and plays 24.4 minutes per game (his lowest average since 2007-08). he is fifth between the nuggets of Denver with over 500 minutes in percentage of use.

There is no doubt that he has entered a role-playing phase of his career, but he is undoubtedly taking advantage of the playing time he gets.

In the season, Denver is plus-11.1 points for 100 possessions with Millsap on the floor and minus-1.4 with him off, giving him a net valuation swing of 12.5 points which ranked in the 98th percentile.

A Swiss defender’s knife remains that can annoy multiple positions and bounce at a solid pace. And also alongside Nikola Jokic, he publishes a solid rate of assistance for a great.

Put it all together and Millsap finds himself back in a small club. Only five players match or exceed your votes by rebound percentage, assistance percentage, blocking percentage and theft percentage in 2019-2020.

Of course, those are the rate statistics, though. If something is starting to go for Millsap, it’s the duration. He played only 38 games in his first season in Denver. And he’s had a hard time staying on the floor this season.

“The biggest sign against him is the missed time”, Ryan Blackburn he wrote for Denver Stiffs. “The initial power forward has played only 41 of the possible 65 games, missing 21 in the season and 16 in a row in one point. It is difficult for any team to overcome, and in a reduced season, about one in every three games is missing. difficult for the rest of the team. “

The Nuggets played as legitimate title contenders when Millsap was on the pitch this season. It is the perfect gap filler in formations with stars like Jokic and Jamal Murray. They just need him to fill those gaps in some other game.

51. Kevin Love, Cleveland Cavaliers

The 2019-20 campaign was a kind of rebirth for Kevin Love. Last season, he appeared in just 22 games and posted his lowest score plus / minus box from 2012-13.

This season, he averaged 17.6 points, 9.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.6 three careers in just 31.8 minutes per game. Adjust those numbers for pace and game time and jump up to 20.2 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 3.0 three for 75 possessions.

And he published those numbers in a team generally dominated by the game of guard. Collin Sexton leads the team useand Darius Garland and Kevin Porter are above 20 percent. They were Cleveland 22 in potential assists when the season has been suspended.

This has led to viral moments of frustration like this, in which he threw his arms towards Sexton during a possession, took the ball, then threw it in two hands Cedi Osman before advancing midfield.

In January, however, Love expressed remorse for this and other moments of a difficult season.

“I wasn’t acting like a thirty one year old, I was acting like a thirteen year old,” Love said journalists. “It wasn’t me.”

It was the veteran presence that the young Cavs needed from that practice onwards. Before that admission, he had an average 16.4 points. Subsequently, he scored 19.0 per game.

It remains to be seen whether this was sufficient to reinvigorate its commercial value. Love’s current deal takes him through 2022-23, which will be his 34-year season. He plans to earn $ 91.5 million in these three years.

It’s a huge commitment, but a team that imagines itself “a piece away” could look at the last few weeks of Love’s 2019-2020 and think it’s the great floor spacer that will put it on top.