The Ranking Is Indeed Unfair

By September, the atmosphere of fierce NBA competition had already grown increasingly intense.

After the Cleveland Cavaliers finally acquired the "double-double machine," Kevin Love, through a three-team trade, fans could not wait for the new season to begin.

Whenever the balance of power in the league shifted, fans eagerly anticipated the arrival of a new season. After all, everything about a new season was fresh and full of suspense.

What kind of results would James produce after returning to Cleveland? Could the Memphis Grizzlies create the legend of a three-peat? Besides Link and James, would any other game-changers emerge?

Countless mysteries were brewing, whetting the fans' appetites.

Naturally, ESPN would not miss out on the fans' anticipation for the new season. So, just as September began, ESPN started releasing its annual rankings of the Top 50 players for the new season.

Just like last season, ESPN released ten players each day, revealing the rankings from No. 50 to No. 1 over five days in ascending order.

Then, just like last season, the Grizzlies—a team that seemingly had no stars besides Link—once again became the team with the most players selected.

On the very first day the rankings were released, a Grizzlies player made the list.

Zach Randolph, who had voluntarily taken a pay cut that summer and was already 33 years old, was ranked 43rd by ESPN. That was nine spots lower than his ranking before last season, but he still remained among the Top 50. For an aging veteran whose fame had faded, that was already quite a high ranking.

The main reason Randolph had fallen nine spots was that his offensive efficiency had dropped significantly last season.

As the Grizzlies' primary low-post isolation option, the "Big Black Bear" had an assisted-field-goal rate of just 46% last season, far