Jazz In ESPN Top 100 Player Rankings: 51-100

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – With the NBA season on the horizon, ESPN has once again released its ranking of the top 100 players in the league. The list is an annual tradition that stirs up fanbases and players alike as the worldwide leader in sports ranks the best players in the world.

As one would expect with a roster that has made four straight postseason appearances, the Utah Jazz are no strangers to the ESPN top 100 player rankings. With the top 50 yet to be released, we look at the Jazzmen named in the lower half of the top 100 players in the league.

This season three Jazz players find their names ranked between 51-100, with a few yet to be named.

We're ranking the top 100 NBA players for the 10th year ‼️

The first half of the countdown: https://t.co/mS8DGFiawX (ESPN+) pic.twitter.com/SfqKgSSegQ

— ESPN (@espn) December 8, 2020

89. Joe Ingles – Previous Rank: 62

Joe Ingles dropped 27 spots in this year’s ranking, largely due to his dip in play last season as a result of moving in and out of the starting lineup.

“Ingles is ecstatic about the return of C Derrick Favors,” ESPN’s Tim MacMahon wrote, “the recipient of 102 Ingles dimes in 2018-19, according to NBA.com/stats data.”

73. Bojan Bogdanovic – Previous Rank: 48

Bojan Bogdanovic dropped nearly as far as Ingles in the ESPN rankings, dipping 25 spots from last year’s ranking. The experts at ESPN attribute the sharpshooter’s dip to his injured wrist and the fact that he has three years and $56 million left on his deal.

#NBA Play of the Day

Watch the winning shot from Bojan Bogdanovic against Houston Rockets pic.twitter.com/UTebL9p29x

— Stadium Astro 😷 (@stadiumastro) February 10, 2020

“Bogdanovic averaged a career-best 20.2 points per game and shot 41.4% from 3-point range last season,” MacMahon wrote. “Despite being bothered by the wrist for months.”

71. Mike Conley – Previous Rank: 24

Mike Conley saw a significant drop in his ranking from a top 25 player, all the way down to 71 in the new ESPN top 100 rankings. The Jazz guard struggled to find his shot early in the season before a hamstring injury caused him to miss a significant amount of time.

“But Conley’s late-season performance offered reason to believe he was adapting to playing off guard Donovan Mitchell,” MacMahon wrote. “After the All-Star break, Conley’s scoring, assists and true shooting percentage all improved significantly.”

Mike Conley (27 PTS) made a playoff career-high 7 3PM in his return to Orlando after the birth of his son 👏

The Jazz take a 2-1 lead in the series! pic.twitter.com/042enUjrW3

— NBA TV (@NBATV) August 22, 2020

Which Other Jazz Players Will Make The ESPN Top 100?

With 50 spots remaining, and three of the Jazz top eight rotation players, it’s difficult to imagine anyone on the Jazz roster other than Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert make the ESPN Top 100 rankings.

Last year Mitchell entered the season as the 20th best player according to ESPN’s projection. Will the first-year All-Star see his ranking improve, especially after his historic postseason performance? Or, will the Jazz early playoff exit and up and down season cause Mitchell to fall in the rankings as it did for Conley, Bogdanovic, and Ingles?

Despite ongoing contract negotiations, Rudy Gobert said his goal is to win a championship with the @UtahJazz. #TakeNote https://t.co/BUOCttS6kM

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) December 2, 2020

Gobert was ranked 14th last season coming off his second straight Defensive Player of the Year award. The Jazz center earned his first All-Star nod last season, but was outdone in the DPOY race by Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis, and saw his defensive numbers dip.

Gobert is almost sure to drop, the question is, will Mitchell leap in this year’s rankings?

Derrick Favors made last season’s top 100, coming in at 96 as the starting center for the New Orleans Pelicans. The Jazz reserve big man fell out of the rankings this season.