Phoenix Suns: Bleacher Report ranks Ingles above Oubre

The Phoenix Suns’ flamboyant wing made the Bleacher Report’s top 15 small forwards, but he should have been ranked higher than 12th.

Bleacher Report snubbed Ricky Rubio in its top 15 point guards list but gave props to Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton in their respective positions. No Phoenix Suns player cracked the top 15 power forwards, but Twitter isn’t imploding because of the exclusion of Dario Saric. So what about small forward?

Kelly Oubre Jr. avoided the snub list and ranked 12th on the list of best small forwards in the league this season, according to the Bleacher Report.

Phoenix Suns’ Kelly Oubre ranked 12th best small forward but could be higher.

The full list:

15. T.J. Warren
14. Duncan Robinson
13. OG Anunoby
12. Kelly Oubre Jr.
11. Joe Ingles
10. Bojan Bogdanovic
9. Will Barton
8. DeMar DeRozan
7. Gordon Hayward
6. Brandon Ingram
5. Jayson Tatum
4. Khris Middleton
3. Jimmy Butler
2. Kawhi Leonard
1. LeBron James

For the most part, I don’t take much umbrage with this positioning, but then again, there appears to be some more inherent anti-Suns bias going on.

Or maybe it is pro-Joe Ingles bias.

There is no objective reason for Ingles to be ranked ahead of Oubre. Ingles isn’t even averaging double figures in scoring (9.8 points per game) and it appears his primary strength comes when he serves as a point-forward of sorts, as his assists are solid at 5.2 per game.

Kelly Oubre doubles him in points per game (18.7), and bests him in steals, blocks, rebounds, turnovers, field goal percentage, and more. Oubre should be in the conversation for Most Improved Player, and it is disappointing we likely won’t see him compete at Disney.

The writers’ only argument for Ingles’ unjustifiably-high ranking is, and I quote:

"“…Ingles is having another high-impact season despite averaging just 9.8 points. On the season, the Jazz have been plus-5.9 points per 100 possessions with Ingles on the floor and minus-1.2 with him off.”More from Valley of the SunsRanking the Phoenix Suns’ 5 holiday games in 2023-24Zion Williamson gets compared to Phoenix Suns legendSuns player preview: Bol Bol can be the perfect role playerFormer Suns’ guard shows he is officially done with PhoenixNBA insider guarantees Suns’ rival won’t make blockbuster trade"

I mean, I guess. But if that is such a highly-valued criterion, where is Mikal Bridges on this list? The Phoenix Suns are -5.2 when he is off the court compared to + 2.0 when on. That is a difference of plus-7.2 compared to Ingles’ plus-7.1.

For what it’s worth, the Suns have a plus-2.7 difference in offensive rating when Oubre is on the court versus when he is off.

I could also prod at Will Barton’s ranking, but we have to assume there is always going to be a level of subjectivity in these best-of lists.

The good news is that on the court, subjectivity doesn’t really exist, and with Oubre’s continued improvement he is going to shoot up many best-of lists, and with it, help shoot the Suns up in the standings.