Our long national nightmare (OK fine, one of them) is over. After a vacation and an illness, the DeAnd'Rankings are back. If you're new here, the DeAnd'Rankings is a 100% infallible ranking of the top players in the NBA named DeAndre (or variations thereof, so long as the same 7 letters are used in the same order): Deandre Ayton, DeAndre' Bembery, De'Andre Hunter, and DeAndre Jordan.
The Committee pores over the numbers, examines everything from every angle, and comes together with the perfect ranking system every week. Previous entries are now a touch outdated, thanks to the Committee's visit to Hawaii, which shall not be excused.
Per usual, we'll start with five questions.
Q1: Did the Committee actually go on vacation or are they just lazy?
A full serving of both options is at play.
Q2: Why are you still riding this gimmick?
Gimmick? Gimmick? The DeAnd'Rankings now has a long history of existence and that's not something that can be overlooked. The Committee will go down with the ship in the event it ever goes down.
Q3: Does the ranking actually change?
Yes it does. Injuries, suspensions, poor play - things can really change in the rankings here, and while I know that's a dorky point, it's true.
Q4: Why can't someone make a movie about dogs that isn't devastatingly sad?
One of life's great mysteries. I am upset about it. I do not watch dog movies. I love dogs too much.
Q5: Ready?
Ready.
THE 7TH DEAND'RANKINGS: THROUGH FEBRUARY 6, 2020
4. DeAndre' Bembry
Something of an underwhelming season for Bembry has now been paired with a hand injury. He hasn't played in a couple of weeks and was unable to really break into the top-7 for a bad team. The important thing for the Committee is that he's still active in the league (injury notwithstanding), because if there were only three DeAndres in this ranking it would be a lot less fun.
Previous ranking: 4
3. De'Andre Hunter
Hunter was having a really nice run before being hampered with an ankle sprain. It's a small sample size, but Atlanta's last 3 games before his injury saw Hunter go for 18/4/3 on 55/41/80 shooting splits. Even more importantly, the Hawks went 2-1 in those 3 games. The team is notably better with John Collins back, as they begin to look like the team that garnered an over/under of 33.5 wins this season from Vegas. Hunter's not bad. He's making progress, he's still a rookie, and he's getting back to a 0.0 in win shares on Basketball-Reference. That's not nothing.
Previous ranking: 3
2. DeAndre Jordan
DJ is in #2 by default. Any big who can come off the bench and do 8 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists in 21:00 is useful. DeAndre Jordan is most certainly useful. He's still a solid backup and can come in and give minutes. He had multiple blocks twice in the past five games. He can still get offensive rebounds.
But he's not the guy he used to be, and that's not surprising for a 6'11, 265 pound man on the back side of 30-years-old. He fell into #2 here because Hunter missed two of his last 3 games and Bembry has missed about 8 in a row, so...DJ!
Previous ranking: 2
1. Deandre Ayton
It's pretty remarkable that the four DeAndres play for three teams and all three teams suck. Ayton has been pretty impressive from a statistical standpoint - certainly impressive enough to be the clear-cut #1 (we'll get to the stats in a minute) - but the Suns just can't win games anymore. They're 2-7 in their last 9 games and the last two of those were road losses to Brooklyn and Detroit, neither of which are good teams.
But DA is out here putting up numbers lately. He has 9 double-doubles in his last 12 games, and over that stretch he's averaging 21/12.5 with 1.7 blocks. He's 54% from the field and over 80% from the stripe, both of which are solid numbers. He's had games of 26/21, 26/15, 25/12, 17/15, 31/9, 25/17, and 26/12 in this dozen-game run. And while that hasn't been enough to win a lot of basketball games, it's enough to win the much-more-coveted #1 spot in the DeAnd'Rankings. Of course, his long absence to start the season means he's still playing catch-up for the season.
Aside: dude went 10-27 in a loss to the Bucks. He took 27 shots. On purpose. He did not take a single free throw. What a wild ride that game was.
Previous ranking: 1
SEASON STANDINGS AFTER VOLUME VII
4. DeAndre' Bembry: 10 points
3. Deandre Ayton: 15 points
2. De'Andre Hunter: 19 points
1. DeAndre Jordan: 26 points
The Committee pores over the numbers, examines everything from every angle, and comes together with the perfect ranking system every week. Previous entries are now a touch outdated, thanks to the Committee's visit to Hawaii, which shall not be excused.
Per usual, we'll start with five questions.
Q1: Did the Committee actually go on vacation or are they just lazy?
A full serving of both options is at play.
Q2: Why are you still riding this gimmick?
Gimmick? Gimmick? The DeAnd'Rankings now has a long history of existence and that's not something that can be overlooked. The Committee will go down with the ship in the event it ever goes down.
Q3: Does the ranking actually change?
Yes it does. Injuries, suspensions, poor play - things can really change in the rankings here, and while I know that's a dorky point, it's true.
Q4: Why can't someone make a movie about dogs that isn't devastatingly sad?
One of life's great mysteries. I am upset about it. I do not watch dog movies. I love dogs too much.
Q5: Ready?
Ready.
THE 7TH DEAND'RANKINGS: THROUGH FEBRUARY 6, 2020
4. DeAndre' Bembry
Something of an underwhelming season for Bembry has now been paired with a hand injury. He hasn't played in a couple of weeks and was unable to really break into the top-7 for a bad team. The important thing for the Committee is that he's still active in the league (injury notwithstanding), because if there were only three DeAndres in this ranking it would be a lot less fun.
Previous ranking: 4
3. De'Andre Hunter
Hunter was having a really nice run before being hampered with an ankle sprain. It's a small sample size, but Atlanta's last 3 games before his injury saw Hunter go for 18/4/3 on 55/41/80 shooting splits. Even more importantly, the Hawks went 2-1 in those 3 games. The team is notably better with John Collins back, as they begin to look like the team that garnered an over/under of 33.5 wins this season from Vegas. Hunter's not bad. He's making progress, he's still a rookie, and he's getting back to a 0.0 in win shares on Basketball-Reference. That's not nothing.
Previous ranking: 3
2. DeAndre Jordan
DJ is in #2 by default. Any big who can come off the bench and do 8 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists in 21:00 is useful. DeAndre Jordan is most certainly useful. He's still a solid backup and can come in and give minutes. He had multiple blocks twice in the past five games. He can still get offensive rebounds.
But he's not the guy he used to be, and that's not surprising for a 6'11, 265 pound man on the back side of 30-years-old. He fell into #2 here because Hunter missed two of his last 3 games and Bembry has missed about 8 in a row, so...DJ!
Previous ranking: 2
1. Deandre Ayton
It's pretty remarkable that the four DeAndres play for three teams and all three teams suck. Ayton has been pretty impressive from a statistical standpoint - certainly impressive enough to be the clear-cut #1 (we'll get to the stats in a minute) - but the Suns just can't win games anymore. They're 2-7 in their last 9 games and the last two of those were road losses to Brooklyn and Detroit, neither of which are good teams.
But DA is out here putting up numbers lately. He has 9 double-doubles in his last 12 games, and over that stretch he's averaging 21/12.5 with 1.7 blocks. He's 54% from the field and over 80% from the stripe, both of which are solid numbers. He's had games of 26/21, 26/15, 25/12, 17/15, 31/9, 25/17, and 26/12 in this dozen-game run. And while that hasn't been enough to win a lot of basketball games, it's enough to win the much-more-coveted #1 spot in the DeAnd'Rankings. Of course, his long absence to start the season means he's still playing catch-up for the season.
Aside: dude went 10-27 in a loss to the Bucks. He took 27 shots. On purpose. He did not take a single free throw. What a wild ride that game was.
Previous ranking: 1
SEASON STANDINGS AFTER VOLUME VII
4. DeAndre' Bembry: 10 points
3. Deandre Ayton: 15 points
2. De'Andre Hunter: 19 points
1. DeAndre Jordan: 26 points
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