The Hoops Junkie

Since I’ve now had a chance to see at least a little bit of most the top teams and players in college hoops, I figured I’d go ahead and rank who I think are the best teams and players in the country at this early point in the season. I’m sure things will change quite a bit once we get into conference play, and I’ll make updates as the season goes on, but here’s my New Year’s Eve 2009 edition of the top 10 teams in the nation as well first and second team All Americans.

 Top 10

1. Kansas – Talent wise I think it’s close with Kansas, Texas, and Kentucky, but I give the Jayhawks the advantage for being solid on both ends of the floor and being able to play at a fast or slow pace. continue reading »

Since  this year’s rookie point guard crop in the NBA looks to be a very promising one, I’ve decided to take a closer look at the top point guards in basketball ages 25 & under. I’m not going strictly off of who is the best right now or who has the most upside, but I’m combining the two and ranking the order of who I would most want as my team’s point guard over the next 5 to 10 years or so if I was running a team. I’m including players in the NBA and college (I haven’t seen Ricky Rubio enough to fairly include him) and thinking about who I believe would be the best point guards if all were given similar opportunities in terms of playing time, coaching, and quality of team while taking into consideration how good they are now and how much room they have to grow.

1. Chris Paul (24) – This is an easy one. He’s already the best point guard in the NBA and has plenty of time to sustain his level of play and even improve a little.

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• Avery Bradley at Texas reminds me some of Russell Westbrook in his last year at UCLA – an elite athlete playing the 2 position who will probably need to prove he can play mostly as a point guard in the NBA. Westbrook started the 2007-2008 season not really on the NBA radar and ended up as the 4th pick in the draft. Bradley came into his freshman year as a highly rated prospect but isn’t super high on the mock drafts I’ve seen. I don’t think he’ll have a chance to play much point guard this season with Balbay and Lucas getting all the minutes there, but if he declares for the draft and can display he can play the point in workouts, he could end up as a pretty high pick too.
• Jordan Hamilton is another nice freshman prospect for the Longhorns. He’s not even playing 20 minutes per game, and he still needs to learn how to play, but like Bradley, his upside is too high for him to slip too far if he decides to enter the draft. He just looks like an NBA wing when you see him on the court. He’s 6-7, a solid athlete, has a nice handle, and he shoots the 3 well. continue reading »

• After seeing most of the highly ranked college teams play so far this year, I feel pretty strongly that Kentucky, Texas, and Kansas are the 3 best teams in the country. They’re just on another level talent-wise than any other team I’ve seen. Even though it’s early in the season, I’ll go ahead and say that I’d be pretty surprised if one of those 3 teams doesn’t win the national championship this year. continue reading »

• Tyreke Evans is a beast. I was trying to think about who his game most reminds me of, and Baron Davis (from about 2007) was the best I could come up with. Baron was a little more athletic, but Evans is 3 inches taller and has a much better feel for the game. They both play kind of a power point guard role, using their size and strength to post up or drive to the hoop. And Evans finds a way to get to the basket even when the guy guarding him is sagging off. He’s not much of a shooter right now, but he knows that and doesn’t force up the crazy off the dribble pull up 3’s that Davis tends to shoot. One of the most impressive things about Evans though is his willingness to make the easy pass. He’ll throw the look ahead pass to a teammate running the floor, he’ll make the extra pass around the perimeter, and he’ll make the easy kick out to a 3 point shooter if the defense collapses on his penetration. I like his demeanor too. He plays hard and with confidence, but his facial expression doesn’t really ever change. I thought he’d be a good NBA player, but I’m much higher on him now than I was after seeing him play at Memphis last year. Maybe I just didn’t see him play enough.
• I’ve been president of the David Lee fan club since his rookie year. He’s an athletic big who runs the floor well, is super active on the glass, is a good passer, and can finish with both hands. He’s taken his game up a notch this year though by turning himself into a pretty decent shooter out to about 18 feet. I’ve been waiting for this to happen for the last couple years. It will be interesting to see what happens with him this summer when his 1 year deal expires. I would love to see him on a good team. continue reading »

• I witnessed a white-out in an NBA game last night. In the 3rd quarter against the Wizards on ESPN the Kings were playing a lineup of Spencer Hawes, Andres Nocioni, Omri Casspi, Beno Udrih, and Sergio Rodriguez.
• James Harden may not be getting the hype that some of the other rookies are so far, but the Thunder made a good pick taking him at number 3. He’s not getting to play a featured role like Brandon Jennings and Tyreke Evans are, but he’s got a really well rounded offensive game. He’s smooth, has a great feel, can shoot it, attack the basket, and is a good passer. Right now he’s getting decent minutes off the bench, and it will be interesting to see if they ever move him to the starting lineup or keep him behind Sefolosha in kind of a Manu Ginobili/Jason Terry role off the bench. continue reading »

Welcome to thehoopsjunkie.com. I will be bringing you whatever is on my mind in the world of basketball. Please email me at thehoopsjunkie@gmail.com with any questions, comments, or suggestions of lists or rankings that you would like to see on the site.