FanPost

Best NBA "Robins" - Where Does Khris Rank?


Which team in the NBA has the best 'second best' player? The "Robin" to the franchise player's "Batman." To be honest, I think everyone knows it is Anthony Davis (well done Lebron and Klutch), but how do the Robins rank after that? Here is my ranking, with both the overall player rank I have each player, and also the tier I have them, which I think is a bit more important than the actual rank.

These player rankings and tiers come from my Top 105 fanpost, which you can find here.

Tier C players

1. Anthony Davis, rank 9 - sorry ESPN, he isn't the second best player in the league, or even close, but maybe if he could get a team to the playoffs without Lebron...

2. Kyrie Irving, rank 15 - wow, another Lebron teammate, how lucky he is...

3. Bam Adebayo, rank 16 - yes, this would be Bam taking another step from last season, which I think he will do

Tier D players

4. Devin Booker, rank 20 - yes, I realize many of you would have him above Chris Paul, and he certainly will be in shots per game, but until further notice, CP3 is still the better player imo

5. Donovan Mitchell, rank 21 - You may have Gobert as the second best; I have Gobert ranked at 19, so no real difference either way imo

6. Khris Middleton, rank 23

7. Paul George, rank 24

8. Kemba Walker, rank 27 - his knee injury may be more severe than Boston is letting on, given that Ainge was trying to trade him and now he's going to miss a month

9. Jamal Murray, rank 28 - this will be all about whether he's regular season Murray or bubble postseason Murray; this rank is in between those two

10. Russell Westbrook, rank 29 - big addition to the East if his total stain of a season last year (his advanced stats were abysmal) wasn't legit

11. Kristaps Porzingis, rank 30 - injuries could be an issue with him too

12. Jusuf Nurkic, rank 32 - a dark horse for DPOY imo, and better on offense than people realize too

13. Paskal Siakam, rank 33 - I don't think he's quite as good as most, and I think he's still not the same type of impact as Lowry, who is constantly underrated

Tier E players

14. Klay Thompson, rank 36 - unfortunately for the Warriors, he's going to miss the whole year; this is where I think he'll be when he comes back

15. Ben Simmons, rank 38 - I know many have him ranked higher, but this to me is a combination of his giant weaknesses, including lack of effort and lack of desire to improve

16. Zion Williamson or Brandon Ingram, rank 40 & 41 - is Zion capable of playing 30 mpg?

17. John Collins or Danillo Gallinaro, rank 42 & 43 - what are the Hawks doing?

18. Myles Turner, rank 44 - like some others, he's certainly not the second best scorer on his team, but I think he's the second best player

19. Al Horford or SGA, rank 45 & 47

20. *Johnathan Isaac, rank 52 - excellent defender, but out with a major injury, may miss the whole year

21. Draymond Green, rank 53 - the "Robin" on the Warriors this season with Klay out

My Takeaways

That does it for the players in my Tiers A-D who are the "Robin" on their team.

For the Bucks, I think (if you agree with my ranking), that this means that Khris is somewhere between the 4th and 13th best "Robin" in the league. If he's the 4th best, that's great, if he's the 13th best, that's not so great, but I think that difference mostly comes down to how each plays in the postseaason, or any improvement/regression from players in that tier.

Among teams that are likely Finals contenders, or top 3 seeds, this is how I would rank it:

1. Anthony Davis, Lakers

2. Kyrie Irving, Nets

3. Bam Adebayo, Heat

4. Khris Middleton, Bucks

5. Paul George, Clippers

6. Kemba Walker, Celtics

7. Jamal Murray, Nuggets

More Takeaways:


I think it is a good sign that Khris can be ranked competitively with most "Robins" in the league. I think it is not such a good sign that two of the teams with players at or above Giannis's level (Lakers, Nets) also have a "Robin" who is an entire tier above Khris.


Good news...our "third wheel" is way better than the third best player on the Lakers or Nets, and better than the third wheel on all of those top 7 teams.

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