Timberwolves

MOLESKY: Blue Chip Players in the NBA

While the definition may vary depending on who you ask, the general understanding is that blue chip players are the ones who make the team what it is. That is, the players who can do everything and are the person standing between their organization’s success and failure.

The blue chip player is the one who takes your team to the championship and is the needed piece on a good team, making it a great team. This is the top tier of basketball and some great players are not going to be in it. The defining quality of a blue chip player is looking at a team without the player, or a team that when faced with losing the player, shells out everything to keep him. Here are the top-10 current blue chip NBA players.

To narrow the field, blue chip players have to hit three key categories that I look:

  • They need to make the talent around them better, not just be great with the talent on the team, adding more than what was there before, including offering a great locker room presence.
  • They have to be a great two-way player, not just a great scoring or defensive threat, but the unselfish star with can be great with the ball or off it.
  • They command a great deal on the market, whether it is a big contract or they require considerable assets to attain.

The tricky part of deciphering if a player is worthy of blue chip status is because it could be a young player with tremendous upside, or an older player who can still reach that status because they have been a great two-way player for such a consistently long time. Whatever the age, the players on this list make or break their team and are going to be successful wherever they play.

Honorable Mention: Blake Griffin – Griffin has all the raw talent you could want and on offense, can play from point guard to center. He was given the max to keep the Los Angeles Clippers together, making him the No. 1 guy. However, he is not a blue chip player because he has so many injuries. He has missed huge amounts of time and with so many surgeries on his legs, he could go down at any time. He is talented enough to be the top-level athlete everyone predicted, but his ailments will always hold him back.

The Blue Chip Talent 

Kristaps Porzingis – The European averaged 18 points and seven rebounds last season and has been productive since he entered the league, playing as one of the most versatile forwards in the league. When the future of your franchise can play the small ball five and wins the skills competition, it gives the organization plenty of flexibility to build around him.

John Wall – His blinding speed not only burns defenses but also pulls away players and gives his team open looks. He averaged 23 points and 10 assists and is an offensive juggernaut, pushing opponents in transition. The Wizards showed his value by signing him to a $170 million extension, but have failed in giving him a very weak bench. Nevertheless, Wall has been a huge part of getting this team into the playoffs and has made everyone around him better. Even though his outside shooting is not as consistent as it should be, he does so many things well on offense that he can compensate for some missed 3-pointers. On defense, he gets after the basketball and creates turnovers that turn into transition points.

Anthony Davis – He averaged 28 points per game with 11 rebounds, and threw down more blocks (2.2) than assists (2.1). He has been on a terrible team in New Orleans and the addition of DeMarcus Cousins is looking less and less like the smart play. This organization does not know how to build around this star and they still hang around playoff talk for most of the season. He averaged 50.5 percent shooting from the field and 80 percent from the charity stripe, possessing the versatility of Porzingis and a stronger player on the boards. Davis has huge upside and ceiling for a player who is already so talented.

Stephen Curry – The two-time MVP can knock down shots from everywhere, drive to the basket and get people the ball. Last season he hit 41 percent of his 3-pointers and averaged 25 points per game. His defense is not lockdown, but he does create turnovers and is such a problem for teams in transition, so some defensive struggles can be overlooked. Curry can stretch the floor five feet behind the arc and his range makes him nearly impossible to defend. He is also an unselfish player, willing to take fewer shots and bring in Kevin Durant, sharing the spotlight with another All-Star to win a championship.

Karl-Anthony Towns – Towns is already untradeable for the Timberwolves as the new era center that can do everything. He hit 36 percent beyond from the arc and 83 percent from the free-throw line last season, knocking down shots from everywhere. He is also seven-feet tall and 244 pounds, which helps him wreak opposing defenses in the paint and crash the boards with ferocity. He is not perfect, having trouble on the defensive side of his game and not protecting the paint like his head coach Tom Thibodeau would want. His presence on the glass helps compensate for the lack of defensive prowess. The big man can shoot and is fast enough to create his own shot, which makes him perfect to build around for the future.

James Harden – He averaged 29 points per game last season, nearly grabbing a triple-double with 11 assists and eight rebounds per game and constantly gets to the line in the fourth quarter. Harden has been at his best in isolation for years, but this season he really did a great job spreading the ball around more, feeding his team at a higher rate than ever before. He does take breaks on defense, which is a bad look for a blue chip player, but he also is worth $208 million because he can take over a game on defense time and again. He may not be a lockdown defender, but he will win game after game when he takes over with five minutes left and constantly knocks down deep shots or drives to the rim.

Russell Westbrook – Say what you want about how many shots he takes or how he hogs the ball, but he is what kept the Oklahoma City Thunder in the playoffs. The reigning MVP averaged 31 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists per game, willing his team to stay relevant after the loss of Durant. He also played 81 games and averaged 34.6 minutes. With one of the highest motors in the NBA, Westbrook was a constant blur all season long. But before he was the MVP he was a dominant force, taking over games with his pure athletic prowess, zipping past defenders and playing pesky defense.

Kawhi Leonard – This man may be the player that has taken over LeBron James status as the best defender in basketball. He can guard the best player on every team. I know a lot of writers say that about their favorite player on their team, but Leonard is the only one it holds true for, holding his own against quick point guards like Curry and banging around in the paint with giants like Davis. He is fast, long and has the quick twitch you look for in superior defenders. He is also the ultimate grinder, getting better with every season on offense, going from 16 to 21 to 25 points per game over the last three seasons. His string of plays to beat the Houston Rockets encapsulates what it means to have him on the roster. The claw is who to build around.

Kevin Durant – As if guarding a seven-foot athlete was not hard enough, Durant extends the floor with a terrific deep shot and over the past couple season moved into blue chip status because of his defense progressively getting better. Not only is he a defensive asset, he has also become a more aggressive paint player, now able to play at the five with the Warriors and not cost the team rebounds. Durant has moved his game to the next level by becoming more than just a pure scorer.

LeBron James – He has been great for 14 years. The last time he averaged less than 25 points through a season was his first one and he always posts an average of nearly seven to eight rebounds per game, dominating the NBA and consistently holding his status as the best player in the game season after season. He not only can take over games to win them, he also makes the players around him better, adding value to guys like Tristan Thompson, J.R. Smith, Mario Chalmers and many others. He has always been a blue chip player, and it probably will not change anytime soon.


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