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SALT LAKE CITY — There are a few very unimportant parts of the NBA offseason people will scrutinize at great lengths. Today is a look at one of the first: NBA 2K14 video game rankings.
These rankings have no impact on the NBA season or how the Utah Jazz will play, but it is always interesting to see what people are saying about the Jazz. Since there isn't much more to talk about, here is a breakdown of what the roster looks like according to the game.
Here is a quick look at some interesting quirks and thoughts about the rankings in the game.
Derrick Favors: The best player on the team is Favors, who is a 78. There is only one other team that its best player with a lower ranking — Orlando Magic with Vicor Oladipo at a 76. Last year Favors was a 74.
Actually there are seven international teams that have a better player than the 78, including Jordan Farmar, who is an 80. Although, the international rankings look different.
Here are the five power forwards higher and lower than Favors in their rankings: Anthony Davis, David West, Thaddeus young, Luis Scola and Nene are above. Elton Brand, Carlos Boozer, Carl Landry, Antawn Jamison and Anthony Bennett are below.
Other notable players at 78 are Vince Carter, Nicolas Batum, Mo Williams and Andrew Bogut.
Trey Burke: The rookie from Michigan is the next highest-rated player on the team. He has a 73 overall as a rookie. He is the top rookie point guard, next highest being Shane Larkin at a 70.
He is the fourth-highest rookie overall. Bennet, Oladipo and Otto Porter are higher. Burke is the 43rd best point guard overall.
The five up and five down around him at his position are: Greivis Vasquez, Brandon Knight, Toney Douglas, Patrick Beverly and Delonte West above. D.J. Augustin, Rodrigue Beaubois, Will Bynum, Jerryd Bayless and Ishmael Smith below. Smith has career averages of 2.4 points, 1.7 assists and 1.2 rebounds per game.
Other 73s include Klay Thompson, Ronnie Brewer, Shane Battier and Kenyon Martin
Richard Jefferson: Apparently the prize of the trade with the Golden State Warriors early this summer was the veteran Jefferson. He is the third highest-rated player on the Jazz with a 72.
Last season Jefferson scored 3.1 points per game, dished out .6 assists per game and grabbed 1.5 rebounds. His 72 is the same as Tracy McGrady, who announced his retirement about a month ago.
Alec Burks and Brandon Rush: NBA 2K14 ranks both of them at a 71. What other shooting guards are a 71 overall one might ask? Only the best.
Well, that was a little sarcastic, it is actually one of the worst statistical players in the league last year and a player that the Jazz paid to not play.
Can you guess them? Here is the stat line for the first: 6.2 points, 2.1 assists, 1.8 rebounds per game with a 5.95 PER, and average player is at 15. He is Austin Rivers, rated the same as both.
The other is Raja Bell, who didn't play last year at all, and still isn't on an NBA roster.
Gordon Hayward: Now we find Hayward at a 70. Yes, below Bell and Rivers. His 14.1 points per game and overall 16.81 PER mean basically nothing. Last year he was a mere 68, so there is that.
Ranked alongside Hayward is Mike Dunleavy, Earl Clark, Jordan Hamilton, who has played 66 games in two years with the Denver Nuggets, and Damion James, who played two games for the Brooklyn Nets last year spending most of the season in the D-League.
James isn't on a roster yet. Hayward will be a leader on the Jazz roster, so this might be a long season. Hayward is the sixth-best player on the Jazz and the worst defender on the Jazz team.
Other players rated a 70 are Luke Ridnour, Leandro Barbosa, DeShawn Stevenson, Alexey Shved and Greg Oden.
Enes Kanter: “Big Turkey” is rated 68, the top-rated center for the Jazz. This rating isn't too bad with the limited sample size. Then looking at the surrounding players just makes the questions arise.
Kanter, as the fourth big, had 7.2 points and 4.3 rebounds per game with a 17.65 PER. Ian Mahinmi scored five points, 3.9 rebounds and a 10.65 PER and rated higher than Kanter. Another player rated the same as Kanter is Carrick Felix. For those who don't know Felix, who the Cavs drafted in the second-round this year.
He is also four points lower than Nerlens Noel, the top rookie center in this year's draft.
John Lucas III and Marvin Williams: The bench starts rounding out with Lucas and Williams at 64. This is the same ranking as former Jazz players Ronnie Price and Kyle Korver and DeMarre Carroll and Jazz-killer Linas Kleiza.
Andris Biedrins and Jeremy Evans: Biedrins and Evans don't have the same rating. Biedrins is a 63 and Evans is a 60. Biedrins might be a little low, but at this point it isn't shocking. Biedrins is our best defender according to the numbers, something Favors might want to look into.
Rudy Gobert: The last player is Gobert rated at a 52. That makes him one of the eight worst players in the league. Why exactly isn't known. Players below Gobert are Fab Melo, D.J. Mbenga, Solomon Jones, Kyryrlo Fesekno, Jason Collins, Darnell Jackson and Brian Cardinal.
Lots of former Jazz players there, but why is Gobert in that group? There are a lot of unknowns about Gobert, but there are a lot of unknowns about plenty of players.
He is still a first-round draft pick. Rookies rated above but drafted after Gobert include Isaish Canaan, Allen Crabbe, Felix, Ray McCallum, Jr., Peyton Siva and Nemanja Nedovic, who is also from overseas. Jeff Withey a center drafted 12 spots after Gobert is a 60.
Ian Clark: Clark isn't ranked in this first release. It could be much like Kevin Murphy who never really made the digital roster for the Jazz.
