Warriors Rankings: Andre Iguodala Ranked Just Right by Sports Illustrated
By Paul Matli
The Sports Illustrated Annual top 100 rankings are out again and Golden State Warriors swingman Andre Iguodala is ranked 44. Is this too low for the Finals MVP?
No, it isn’t, this is just right. Iguodala being ranked No. 44 might seem a little low considering he won Finals MVP and he was ranked 29th last season.
The biggest reason for his drop is becoming a bench player and his reduced offensive game. Iguodala was always a guy who relied on his athleticism to score as he wasn’t a great shooter. With the Warriors we’ve seen his offensive game diminish drastically.
At times it looked like he didn’t even want to shoot. However, in the NBA Finals he flashed some of the old Iguodala, the guy that could run and jump with the best of them.
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Even though Iguodala is the Finals MVP, it doesn’t change what people think of him. We all know he’s one of the best defensive players in the league, an exceptional passer and a guy who’s leadership and intangibles don’t show up on the box score. That sounds a lot like Draymond Green, who is ranked 16. There’s a disconnect there. As great as Green is, he isn’t the 16th best player in the NBA, because he’s a system player. Green should be in the 25-30 range, which is where Klay Thompson hangs out.
Iguodala should be appreciated for what he did in the NBA Finals. It was remarkable, but a big reason why he had so much success is he wasn’t guarded on offense because of all the other weapons the Warriors had. Also, defensively it was easier for him to guard LeBron James because Tristan Thompson and Timofey Mozgoz were clogging the driving lanes.
Bringing up these facts aren’t diminishing what Iguodala did. It was historic what he did against the freight-train, and he certainly deserved MVP.
If anybody expects Iguodala to be the player he was in the Finals they might be disappointed, because of the simple fact being, he will be a bench player this coming season and will be the fifth or sixth option on offense.
Taking a look at the players around Iguodala makes it easy to see that his ranking is pretty accurate. Most of the players ranked in the 40-50 range are specialists. Three point shooters like Danny Green and Kyle Korver are ranked 50 and 46, respectively. Khris Middleton, who is a very similar player to Iguodala is ranked 45th and Joakim Noah, another high energy defensive player, is ranked 43rd.
Iguodala is ranked ahead of Zach Randolph, Al Jefferson and Greg Monroe who are all number one or two options on their respective teams. Seeing this should make us appreciate Iguodala even more and realize again how good the Warriors are.
Iguodala is ranked where he should be, which is with the specialists, type players. No shame in that considering he won Finals MVP being a defensive ace.