Who Gained the Most? (Part 2)
2020 Playoffs Post-Mortem: The Unranked
Co-written by Isaac O’Neill and Chris Howson-Jan
Beyond the Top 100 Pyramid rankings, there is a long list of fringe players; guys who used to be on it but got bumped off, guys who are in the conversation, and guys who never quite made it and unless some new illuminating statistic comes out, probably never will. It’s a growing list that continually gets added to as we do more research on older players, and new (mostly) young players carve out impressive careers for themselves across the league. None of the players below are really within any sort of close range of cracking the top 100 at the moment, but represent the group most likely to make the list in another ten years. Most of the players mentioned here were previewed in Part 2 of our pre-bubble rankings. Only Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, and Nikola Jokic played well enough to make it into the top 100, or to put themselves further into the conversation. Some weren’t even mentioned in our article, but played well enough to deserve mention.
Pascal Siakam
Isaac: Naturally, there’s a lot more room to jump up the list of all-time greats the farther down the list one is. Unfortunately for Pascal Siakam, he didn’t do much to improve his standing, with a troublesome all-around performance versus the Boston Celtics. Speaking as a Raptors fan, I think Siakam’s issues are overblown. We’ve still never seen a growth curve like his, and growing pains are natural when you enter top 25 player status. His transition game and defense will make him a great floor raiser for the rest of his career. But there’s no question he will need to adapt to increased defensive attention and diversify his offensive package to give him the boost he needs to help keep the Raptors a truly relevant team in the East. I have confidence he will continue to make significant strides in his play, and he still has plenty of promise and room to grow; remember, Siakam finished with a legit All-NBA Second Team last year.
Jayson Tatum
Chris: When the Celtics took the Cavaliers to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals without Kyrie Irving in Jayson Tatum’s rookie season, many considered the appearance — and Tatum’s great performance — to be a fluke. This year, he proved himself as a legitimate first option and a player who elevates his game in the playoffs. When the Celtics offense sputtered, he came into his own as an isolation scorer and showed an ability to take over games. His isolation game felt threatening in the same way LeBron, Harden, Luka do in isos: a legitimate threat to score on any possession. We’ve moved far past the idea that “bucket-getters” are the only type of player that can win, but it is still a necessary trait to have at the end of tight playoff games. The Celtics are an egalitarian offense, but Tatum showed that they’ll go as far as he is able to lead them, and his trajectory continues to look encouraging. We can’t call him anywhere near a pyramid player yet, but he’s unquestionably on the right path.
Kemba Walker
Chris: After years of developing himself into an excellent player in Charlotte, it’s a shame Kemba has failed to play like the best version of himself in his brief time on a contending team. Unlike what we’re typically used to seeing, Kemba was a borderline liability at times in the playoffs. He had 5 points on 2/11 shooting in 51:40(!!!) of action in a closeout game vs. Toronto. He’s already been talked about in trade rumours for players like Jrue Holiday, who is arguably inferior to Kemba, but provides two-way play the Celtics might need for a title run. With Tatum maturing into the Celtics’ top option, there might not be a path in the future for Kemba to have big playoff runs; his career is already impressive, but I worry he won’t get the kind of opportunities he thought he would when he left Charlotte in free agency.
Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons
Isaac: The ignominious death of this 76ers season is hardly even enjoyable to make fun of at this point. They have made it too easy for us every step of the way. They also made our analysis in the context of the Pyramid easy. Even if they had put up a mild fight in their series versus the Celtics, I could see them rising. They couldn’t even do that, getting swept, and if anything hurting their standing. Most great players have tough series in their career, but rolling over in the fashion Simmons and Embiid did is a tough look. With playoff underperformance quickly becoming a pattern for the young duo, the future of the Sixers is more in doubt than ever; Simmons and Embiid might need a breakup for the good of both of their Pyramid hopes.
Luka Doncic
In just two years in the league, Doncic has consistently met or exceeded the high expectations fans and analysts have had for him. In addition to an All-NBA First Team, he balled out in his first playoff series, averaging an efficient 31 points per game despite a blip in his free throw shooting (just 66% from the line). His Mavs were arguably favoured to win their first-round series against the Clippers before Kristaps Porzingis went down with an injury, and Luka still won them a game singlehandedly, capped off by an all-time playoff buzzer beater in overtime. Doncic was never expected to win a playoff series this year, so the fact that he was able to pose a genuine threat to the Clippers virtually by himself is highly impressive. Luka figures to be a perennial top 10 player for many years to come, so in all likelihood his legacy will continue to grow quickly.
Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell
The Jazz suffered an absolutely backbreaking loss to the Nuggets in the playoffs, and as the leaders of their team, Gobert and Mitchell have to take some level of blame. However, unlike Kawhi and Paul George, the star tandem had strong performances in the playoffs: Gobert put up a respectable 17/11 on 65% shooting, although he struggled dealing with Nikola Jokic, perhaps his worst matchup in the entire NBA. But it was Mitchell who truly broke out, averaging 36/5/5 on insane shooting numbers (including over 50% from 3). He wasn’t the only player — or even the only player in that series — to put up eye-popping numbers in the bubble, but given his numbers and the added excuse of the Jazz missing Bojan Bogdanovic, this is a very easy series to overlook for him. A first round exit for a team that is already a regular playoff participant doesn’t move the needle much, but their series might have opened some eyes about Mitchell’s potential ceiling as a lead guard.
Jamal Murray
Isaac: I was as low as anyone on Jamal Murray after the COVID shutdown. To me, he was an undersized 2-guard that didn’t do much on defense, whose overrated shooting ability didn’t do enough to make up for that fact. We didn’t even bother mentioning him in our preliminary Who Stands to Gain? series entering the postseason. But his improvement is one of the most drastic in league history. Murray came into the playoffs scorching hot, combining with Donovan Mitchell for more points in a series than any two opposing players in NBA history. It seemed to be more than a fluke, as Murray, who put on 15 pounds of muscle in the hiatus, looked stronger, faster, and more adept at playmaking. He’s officially one of the most exciting under-25 players in the league and the expectation heading into this season will be for him to play at an All-Star level. Next to Jokic, the Nuggets’ time to win is upon us, and Murray needs to continue his trajectory for that to happen, and to one day make it onto the top 100.
Bam Adebayo
Chris: The Finals stat sheet might tell you otherwise, but Bam Adebayo was at times the Heat’s best player throughout the 2020 playoffs. Through the conference finals, he was barely below Jimmy Butler in scoring, while destroying him in rebounds and even beating him in assists. His defensive prowess confounded the entire Celtics team in the Eastern Conference, summed up best by one of the greatest blocks in NBA history, accounting for both ability and moment. If Bam can score 20 points per game efficiently and do what he does on the defensive end, he deserves to be in the conversation for best centre in the league. He finished in a fairly close second for Most Improved Player last year (behind Brandon Ingram), was Second Team All-Defense, and had a legitimate claim to a Third Team All-NBA spot. It was unfortunate that we didn’t see a healthy Adebayo in the NBA Finals, because even more than Butler, Bam might be the engine of the Heat. That prospect makes it very exciting for the Heat to see where he goes from here.
Tyler Herro
You can’t really say a player improved their Pyramid ranking when they aren’t even on the map, and Tyler Herro certainly was nowhere near our list at the start of the playoffs — even as an up-and-comer. But he opened plenty of eyes in the playoffs, playing with remarkable consistency and showing a real taste for big moments. Herro even outscored Jimmy Butler against the Celtics, albeit averaging 19.2 points per game to Jimmy’s 19. Herro still isn’t anywhere near any Pyramid discussion, but he proved with these playoffs that he could have All-Star appearances in his future. If he becomes that level of performer in the regular season, this won’t be the last time we talk about him.
Devin Booker
Booker’s absence from our pre-playoff series was solely based on the fact that the Suns were not in the playoffs, despite going 8–0. Nonetheless, he did everything in his power to improve his standing within the league over that short period. I already wrote about Booker after his season ended, and as a skeptic of his, the research I did for that article impressed me. I do think, as much as any of the guys mentioned here, he has a good chance to one day find his way onto our all-time list. Unfortunately for him, he has been forced to play for Phoenix. That will mean something different going into this season, with the Chris Paul acquisition giving the Suns high hopes to finally make the playoffs after falling short the past ten years — the second longest drought in the NBA behind the Kings. Like Jamal Murray, I’m excited to see if Booker can sustain an All-Star level of play for the course of a season next to an all-time great passer.
The Vets
In Part 3 and 4 of our pre-playoffs articles, we wrote about a few vets potential to make an impact in the playoffs; Horford, Howard, Danny Green, Noah, Lou Williams, Millsap, Gasol, Ibaka, Hayward, and Kyle Korver. Unfortunately, none of these guys were able to have a big moment. In fact, many of them actually had disappointing playoff performances. Only Dwight Howard, and maybe Serge Ibaka and Paul Millsap, did anything to improve their historical standing.
I’ll give credit to Dwight on two levels. First off, I’m happy for him to win after such a difficult decade, even if much of that difficulty was self-inflicted. He played his role well, and was a legitimate asset to a team that needed minutes at his position. Secondly, it’s a credit to him that this championship will not move him higher on The Pyramid. He is already in the mid-50s, and his role in the Lakers’ title run is still not enough to put him past Tony Parker at #54.
Rajon Rondo
Isaac: Another player that we again did not even mention pre-playoffs, and the one vet I do want to give real credit to, is Rajon Rondo. After playing just 20 MPG across 48 games for the Lakers in the regular season, Rondo did not seem like a significant factor to the Lakers playoffs hopes. Few thought he could sufficiently fill Avery Bradley’s defensive shoes, and his injury issues going into the playoffs added further question marks. His shooting ability added to the memes that were the 2019 Lakers offseason.
But Playoff Rondo entered the proverbial chat once again, coming off the bench for the Lakers from the second round onward. He shot 40% on 3 attempts, provided ball-handling skills the Lakers were in dire need of, and helped contribute to a very impressive all-around defense for the eventual champs.
We will be trying to fully flesh out Rondo’s bizarre career in the relatively near future. To compare him to Kyle Lowry — another similarly ornery point guard with a ring — he sits behind Lowry, but still comfortably in the top 150. Rondo’s ceiling may have been higher than Kyle Lowry’s but the breadth and consistency of Lowry’s career has been far more impressive. I’ll admit I’m not the biggest Rondo fan in the world, but teammates from his good teams have constantly defended him. And his many haters this season were forced to eat crow on his objectively impactful play for the Lakers.
Current Ranking: Top 150
