March 1, 2008

Davis Sports Deli.com's
NBA Top 25 Under Age 25

Seventh Edition: Is Al Thornton Deserving?

By: Patrick Crawley, Aaron Fischman & Joshua Fischman

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In watching the NBA this season, Aaron, Joshua and I couldn't help but get excited by all the young talent in the league. From the size and athleticism of LeBron James to the inside dominance of Dwight Howard to the innovative ball movement and court vision of Chris Paul, the young players of the league are factoring prominently in the success of their respective teams. For evidence, just look at the recent improvement of Dwight's Magic or Chris' Hornets and the poor performance of the Cavs without LeBron.

Seeing as the players under 25 are some of the most exciting to watch, our crack team of analysts wanted a forum to measure the success of these players against one another. As such, we decided to create the Davis Sports Deli's Top 25 Under 25 list (the best 25 players in the NBA under age 25).

The Top 25 Under 25 list is a compilation of the efforts of Aaron, Joshua and myself. After a great deal of research and analysis, each of us develops a list of the Top 30 players in the league under age 25. In determining our individual lists, each of us uses a subjective rating system based on current statistics, future potential and the ability of a given player to reach that potential. For instance, a player like Gerald Green would score high on the potential scale but, with poor numbers the past few seasons, he doesn't do well in terms of the other two criteria. As such, you won't see Gerald Green on our list anytime soon.

After each of us has built his individual list, we compile the data and average the rankings for each player listed. If two players are tied with the same average ranking (say Player A and Player B), we take whichever player is ranked higher on the majority of the individual lists. So, let's say Player A is ranked 12th on my list, 11th on Aaron's and 11th on Joshua's (whereas Player B is 13th, 9th and 12th respectively). Both have the same average ranking, but Player A is higher on more lists, and therefore gets the nod over Player B.

With the average rankings determined, our team pares down the list to the Top 25 and lists them here on the site along with age, previous ranking and a few comments about his skill and potential. We update the Top 25 list on the Friday of every other week (so...every two weeks). We take recent play and injuries into account as well an increase or decrease in numbers. Player movement is documented in the "Movement" section along with + or - indicators. Once a player has his 25th birthday, he will graduate from our list. Graduates and runners-up will be posted directly after the Top 25 list.

Without further ado, here it is: the Sixth Edition of the world famous Davis Sports Deli Top 25 Under 25 list. We hope you enjoy it.

If you'd like a reference for comparison, feel free to take a look back at our Top 25 Sixth Edition.