Let's start with everyone's input on the: Top 5 best Free Agent/Trade pickups

Here are my 5 top picks:
AD (Lakers immediate Championship contender)
Kawhi (See above replace with Clippers)
Paul George (See above replace with Clippers)
Westbrook (I'm in the minority thinking this is going to be an incredible pairing)
Horford (My wild card pick because I think Horford is the absolute perfect fit to put Phily over the top)

What say you?

Top 5 picks for 9 cat this year? Highest to lowest order. I got

Harden
Davis
Giannis
Steph
KAT

Yours?

Very solid picks!
My early top 5 is below, however, I'm still developing all the criteria.

Giannis
AD
KAT
Harden
Lebron

Haha, oh we'll have tons of these threads as draft season approaches

Everybody prepares come draft season, however, CHAMPIONS start preparing now!
Let's go!!

My top 5 for 9 cat would be:

Giannis
Steph
AD
Harden
Jokic/Kat

Interested to see how Westbrook impacts Hardens numbers though.

Great list! The Harden/Westbrook stats dilemma is going to be the million dollar question going into the season for sure!
Don't sell Lebron short! I think he will have an MVP caliber season.

I do think he will have a great season, I just can never look past his turnovers and free throw %. He could easily be a top 5 player depending on strategy of the team and format. I've always had a big focus on efficiency and defence stats in my last 2 seasons.

Those are very good points. I just think Lebron is going to go all in one last time. We will see.
With all the player moves it is going to be the most unpredictable fantasy season ever!

My top 5 for 9-cat would be:
-Harden (Westbrook knocks off some of the shine, but it's Harden, he'll play a ton)
-Davis (load management is a risk, but he's playing for his first choice team in a while, with the GOAT, he's always a small injury risk. I have him as #2 just because PF's are easier to pick up later in the draft than guards)
-Curry (should have the most usage he's had in a while)
-Towns (so safe, so good)
-Giannis (maybe he improves his perimeter shot and %'s from the line), for this reason he's 5th.

Outstanding 5 and hard to argue!
Don't count out: Embiid, Westy, Bron Bron!

I'm liking the discussion on the top 5. Good arguments for many of the rankings here.

However, after listening to Thursday's pod where Josh and Neil struggled with the late 1st round-2nd round guys, I think perhaps we could touch up on that more? I think for first round, top 6 in general have a good consensus and are very likely in that tier 1 status.

Giannis, Steph, AD, Harden, KAT, Jokic for top 6

Then from here on out this is where I think it starts to get a bit murky.

Dame, Kawhi, Embiid, LeBron, PG13, Beal, Kyrie, Butler? No idea how to order those guys but I think they're all generally in tier 2 which makes up to top 14.

Then..

Jrue, Drummond, Gobert, Turner, Vooch, Kemba? Again, no idea on order, but some of these guys could be in tier 2, but I guess we can round them out for tier 3 to make up the top 20.

Then wow.. who's next? I'm not even sure at this point.

Doncic? Siakam? Aldridge? Ayton? Westbrook? to round out the top 25?

Very good discussion points! I agree that the first 6 are pretty similar in all the projections, however, if there were ever a year that different opinions are very relevant it's this year. The 1/2 dozen of Giannis, Steph, AD, Harden, KAT, Jokic are a slam dunk. That's where it starts to get extremely interesting because of how dramatically the NBA landscape has changed this off season. Let's try to get a robust discussion going of how everyone is ranking that all important #7-#20. That's where a large amount of leagues can be won or lost.

Please chime in with updated thoughts!

#7-Dame (basically 3 seasons of finishing in the top 6, super durable)
#8-George (top 3 for a large portion of last year, he shouldn't see much of a drop in touches, this could also fluctuate depending on how his health is coming out of the offseason)
#9-Beal (literally the only option)
#10-Jrue Holiday (this is a bit risky, and I could be talked out of it, but Pelicans are supposed to be upping their pace, everything points toward the 2019-2020 Pels being Jrue's team)
#11-Kemba (durability plays a nice factor here, along with playing on a better team, but also a Celtics team that is pretty lacking in depth compared to recent years)
#12-Embiid (easy argument for him to go higher, but he'll miss games, which is why I omit him from the top 10)
#13-Kyrie (maybe he should be a little lower, as he probably won't play a ton of games, I believe Kyrie is a firm second rounder, but not too sure where to place him)
#14-Gobert (Solid, beast)
#15-Drummond (Solid, beast, but hurts in FT%)
#16-Vucevic (Feels like a really safe mid-late second rounder)
#17-John Collins (Yes I know, a little risky, but he should go off with Trae Young and play lots of games)
#18-Trae Young (Ideally I'd like to have both Hawks players in the 3rd round range, but there's a good chance Collins doesn't make it past the second, and if I miss out on Kemba/Jrue/Kyrie, Trae Young is my next target for PG)
#19-Kawhi Leonard (A guy I'd prefer to target in the early 3rd, but I'd heavily consider taking him in the late second if I get a steady first round player like a Harden/Towns/Lillard etc...
#20-Zion (He probably won't last this long, and its a bit of a risk too, I could be talked out of this and put Booker or Butler here instead).

Again, I don't feel great about a lot of these, but curious on others' takes.