Cavs: Just 2 players on The Athletic’s Top 125 players list

The Cleveland Cavaliers have not done much winning over the past few seasons, as injuries and a talent exodus left this team in a rebuilding state. Even so, the Cavs have managed to retain a few talented players and draft a few more, giving them a core with which to build on.

It is important for the Cavs, as with any team, to be continually evaluating their players as compared to their tiers. It matters whether a player is 5th, 15th or 35th at their position, or whether they are 50th or 150th in the league. Signing and re-signing players is based on this, as is negotiating trades.

The Athletic’s Seth Partnow ranked the Top 125 players in the NBA. Why were there only 2 Cavs on the list?

The media gets to do this ranking in public, and it’s a big task, especially when you write for a major publication or website. The Athletic’s Seth Partnow just dropped his Top 125 Players (subscription required) in the league article, sorting them all into tiers. As is expected from the Internet, he has been attacked and vilified online for some of his rankings decisions.

That’s not our goal here; Partnow is an intelligent basketball mind seeking to apply his reasoning to a ranking of the entire league. There will be places any of us disagree with him, but he is entitled to his opinion, and at the very least it’s an informed opinion.

Now to disagree. Despite ranking 125 players, and tacking on a few honorable mentions, Partnow only includes two Cavaliers on his list. Jarrett Allen and Collin Sexton both made the cut, but barely, falling in his final “Tier 5” of the rankings.

Why did Sexton and Allen make the cut, and who else should have been inside that Top 125?