Are the three Boston Celtics already named on Sports Illustrated’s top 100 NBA players ranked too low?

Every year, several publications list their top 100 NBA players in anticipation of the NBA season. Were the three Boston Celtics already named on the list ranked too low?

The Boston Celtics already appeared to be well represented on Sports Illustrated’s top 100 NBA players for the 2019-20 season. The question is: were they ranked fairly?

To be clear, the SI team obviously put a lot into this list. Research, hours of basketball watching and hard work went in to the making of this top 100.

That being said, the Houdini is going to find every angle possible as to why Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward are ranked too low. These lists are never perfect. Even after underperforming last season, the Boston Celtics were still a 48-win #4 seed.

Here’s to making a case that the already-listed shamrock trio deserved a higher ranking…

#82, Marcus Smart

Smart is a first-time entrant on SI’s list, but he deserves the accolade after a successful season in Boston. Smart benefitted from being one of the few young players Kyrie Irving had a positive relationship with. He also benefitted from Brad Stevens’ belief in his two way game.

That faith led to Smart overtaking Brown in the starting lineup. With an increased offensive role, Smart shot 36% on over four 3-point attempts per game.

So was Smart undersold on this list?

Truthfully, his placement right behind Pat Beverley (#81) isn’t egregious. Beverley is a very similar player to smart, giving up a few inches of height and a fair amount of size (35 pounds) and strength.

The error in placement comes with Serge Ibaka. While he did have a nice bounce-back season, he should have been contributing more in the past few seasons, given his status as a 10-year veteran. Perhaps Smart and Beverley should have gotten a bump in the rankings at Ibaka’s expense.

#68 Jaylen Brown

Brown’s ranking is an easy one to decipher. As great as J.J. Redick has been in his illustrious basketball career, he never had the ceiling Brown has.

Redick is a career role player. That is not an insult. He has been nothing short of perfect in the role he was given. Since his historic college career at Duke, where he ranks first in points and points in a single season, Redick has torched NBA nets at a historic clip.

Just last season he shot 40% from the 3-point line on eight attempts per game. For his career, he owns a 41% conversion rate from beyond the arc. There are few better than Redick in the 3-point specialist role.

But basketball is played on both sides of the ball. Brown is capable of playing the 2-5 spots on the floor, as ESPN’s Brian Windhorst recently pointed out. Redick’s defense is a weakness.

Now to be fair, this list was likely compiled before Brown broke out for Team USA in the FIBA world championship games. But given what he has done for Gregg Popovich’s squad so far, this ranking looks egregious right now with Redick in his career twilight and Brown soon entering his prime.

#59 Gordon Hayward

This is perhaps the trickiest ranking of all of them. Hayward was undoubtedly a top-50 player just two years ago before injuries set his career back. Is Hayward perhaps being given the benefit of the doubt with this ranking?

Well if you look who is ahead of him, you cannot believe that. Right at #58, one spot ahead of Hayward, is Klay Thompson. The absurdity of the ranking, torn ACL and all, is frankly astounding. Thompson should have been given more of a benefit of the doubt when it comes to returning to form upon his debut at the Chase Center in 2020.

The most absurd part of the entire exercise is Otto Porter’s listing above both of them. While Porter saw scoring (12 to 17 points per game), he has never come close to being an All-Star like Hayward and Thompson have been.

If Porter excels with the Chicago Bulls this season, I will admit SI was on to something. As it stands, I believe Hayward and Thompson should get a bump above Porter.