Ranking Point Guards from the Eastern Conference for the 2017-2018 season.

Ranking the top point guards from each team in the Eastern Conference 

Now that free agency has calmed down and teams have had a chance to evaluate their summer league rosters, lets take a look at my rankings for next seasons point guards in the Eastern Conference. 

1: John Wall (Washington Wizards) 

John Wall had a career outing in the 2016-17 season, leading the Washington Wizards to the 4th seed despite their slow 2-8 start to the season. He put up 23PPG whilst averaging 10AST and led the league with total steals. These stats only improved in the playoffs. He added a respectable jumpshot last season and I expect him to add a 3pt shot this upcoming season after showing us a sneak preview in the playoffs.   

2: Isaiah Thomas (Boston Celtics) 

One of the best scorers in the league, he carried the Celtics offense who took a noticeable hit in offensive production with him off the floor despite their deep and well rounded roster. He finished 3rd in the league for scoring at 28.9PPG on a crazy TS% of 63% as well as finishing 5th in MVP voting. Although being one of the best offensive weapons in the league he is also one of the worst defensively and that is why he doesn’t get the top spot.  

 

3: Kyle Lowry (Toronto Raptors) 

Solid all around, defensively, shooting, passing, he’s a great PG who does it all at an efficient rate, It was tough to choose between him and Irving for this 3rd spot but I put Lowry here because he is one of the most impactful players in the league relative to each others team as well as having defensive edge.  

 

4: Kyrie Irving (Cleveland Cavaliers) 

The best isolation scorer in the league and an amazing scorer in general gets Irving to the 4th spot, a lot of people will not agree with him being 4th and, it was definitely hard to pick between the top 4. He scored 25ppg and is still young, he can only keep on improving, especially now that he wants his own team to lead.   

5: Kemba Walker (Charlotte Hornets) 

Ball handling, finishing around the rim, 3pt shooting. Kemba is one of the most overlooked PG’s in the league right now he averaged 23.2PPG along with along with 5.5AST. The Charlotte Hornets have also now strengthened their squad and are looking for a playoff spot, im sure Kemba will get them their.   

6: Goran Dragic (Miami Heat) 

One of the more underrated PG’s in the league, very savy around the rim, solid offensively and defensively a good fundamental and high IQ point guard earns him this spot. Expect big things from Miami and Goran in the 17-18 season. 

  

7: Dennis Schroder (Atlanta Hawks) 

Coming off a hot playoff performance Dennis now finds himself with the reigns on what will likely be a lottery team. Both Howard and Milsap are gone so Dennis will now have to carry the offensive load even more, he’s still young so I expect to see a lot of improvement this year, he’s incredibly quick and athletic. He lacks a solid 3pt shot but like John Wall he showed what he can do with the 3 ball in the playoffs. I definitely expect a higher volume of everything from him this year, but I expect his efficiency will also take a hit, The thing that will impact him the most is his team’s seed at the end of the year, which will not be good.     

8: Reggie Jackson (Detroit Pistons) 

Reggie didn’t have an ideal 2016-17 season but I expect him and the Detroit pistons to bounce back after last years disappointment. Reggie finished the year with 14.5PPG and 5AST but was riddled with injuries throughout the year. I expect him to bounce back with a season like in 2015-16 where he averaged 18.8PPG on much better efficiency and his team in a higher seeding.   

9: Jeremy Lin (Brookyn Nets) 

Crippled with injuries last season, Jeremy still managed to perform well and the nets actually weren’t that bad of a team with him on the floor. With a healthy Lin playing (+20mins and no minutes restrictions) the Brooklyn Nets went 11-17 with Lin, seemingly much better then the record they ended up with, 20-62. He’s a versatile scorer, experienced and an above average play maker, I expect him to be solid this season playing next to D’Angelo Russel.

   

10: Zach Lavine (Chicago Bulls)  

Zach Lavine will be coming off knee surgery from his torn ACL and I expect this will hinder his performance especially as he most likely wont be ready for the start of the NBA season. However once back he will be given the responsibility of carrying the Bulls offense. He averaged an excellent 18.9PPG shooting 39% from 3.   

11: Markelle Fultz (Philadelphia 76ers) 

Although he’s a rookie I believe Markelle will do very well this year with the 76ers, he will be given the reigns to lead the offense along with Ben Simmons and coming off a good college year with 23.2PPG along with 5.9AST and 5.7RB I think he will surprise a lot of people. He also has excellent defensive potential with his 6’10” wingspan and will play heavy starter minutes for the season.   

12: Malcolm Brogdan (Milwaukee Bucks) 

ROY last season and I think he pleasantly surprised everyone. He is a smart basketball player who plays solid defense. He averaged 10.2PPG with 4.2AST and being a rookie last year I expect him to build on these numbers, not to mention he shot 40% from 3 last year, he most likely wont be the 1st, 2nd or even 3rd option when starting on the floor but he plays a nice efficient game.   

13: Darren Collison (Indiana Pacers) 

Darren Collison won’t be great and won’t be amazing, he’ll be solid for Indiana. He will take a lot of the responsibility on the offensive end and will be given somewhat of a leadership role on the young Indiana team who are now without Paul George. He’s a veteran in the league and came off 13.2PPG on shooting 48% from the field, he will most likely see an increase in minutes and given a lot of the offensive load so I expect his volume to definitely increase   

14: Elfrid Payton (Orlando Magic) 

An inability to improve his shooting is why Payton is so low on this list. He put up 12.8ppg on 47% shooting. He is still a relatively poor FT shooter at 69.2% and is unable to consistently drain 3’s shooting them at a mere 27%. Despite his flaws Payton is still a good distributor of the ball at 6.5 assists per game and having a couple of triple doubles towards the end of the season doesn’t hurt his value.     

15: Frank Ntilikina (New York Knicks) 

The 19 year old out of France has an excellent frame for the NBA at the point guard position standing at 6’5” with a massive 7’0” wingspan which could allow him to be a disruptive presence at the defensive end. However, he is a streaky shooter and not an amazing playmaker, which leads to a weakness of his, initiating/creating offense. Essentially he is still a raw prospect and that’s why he’s number 15 on my list.  

Let me know what your thoughts are on this list in the comments! thanks for the read.