For the sixth season in a row, ESPN.com is ranking the top players in the NBA. Who will be the best player this season?To get the final ranking, we asked our expert panel to vote on pairs of players.LeBron James vs. Stephen Curry. Russell Westbrook vs. Kevin Durant. Damian Lillard vs. Chris Paul.We asked, Which player will be better in 2016-17? To decide, voters had to consider both the quality and the quantity of each players contributions to his teams ability to win games.Well roll out the rest of our top 200 players over the next two days. If you want to get involved in the discussion or just follow along, #NBArank is the Twitter hashtag to use. You also can follow along @ESPNNBA and on Facebook.On to the list ...6. Anthony DavisPelicans | PF | @AntDavis23Last years rank: 22016-17 projected RPM: 4.14Insider profile:?Last season was supposed to be the year of the Brow. Davis was a preseason favorite for MVP, at least among ESPN writers, but he was actually less effective than he was in 2014-15, before surgery ended his season in March. Davis downturn can be attributed in large part to the injuries that struck the team. In the long term, thats not a big problem for anything but Davis pocketbook -- he failed to qualify for the Derrick Rose rule by making an All-NBA team, costing him $25 million over the life of a five-year extension that kicks in for 2016-17. But the patella wear and tear that led to a March debridement could make it difficult for Davis to achieve his massive potential. ?Read more ?#NBArank 6-106: Anthony Davis7: Chris Paul8: James Harden9: Paul George10: Damian Lillard#NBArank 2016: The Top 200 countdownWholesale Shoes Ireland Online . Then the Pacers gave Oladipo and his Orlando teammates the cold shoulder. Paul Georges buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter spurred a 21-4 run, finally sending Indiana past the Magic 97-87 in a tougher-than-expected opening night matchup. Vapormax Shoes Ireland Sale . LOUIS -- Lance Lynn was one of the more enthusiastic participants as the St. http://www.vapormaxdiscountireland.com/ . -- There were so many positives from the Orlando Magics first victory of the season that it was hard for coach Jacque Vaughn to stop praising his players. Vapormax Shoes Ireland . 10 Texas A&Ms offence dominated as usual against SMU. Discount Vapormax Shoes Ireland . -- Jimmy Walkers first PGA Tour trophy came with a special gift tucked inside.PHOENIX -- College basketball had bogged down, the scoring at all-time lows, the wrestling under the basket going through gym roofs across the country.Something had to be done, so the NCAA began implementing rules to clean up and speed up the game.These new rules, put in place over the past few years, have mostly worked. Scoring is up, the games have more movement and flow, the physical play in the post at least toned down a bit.Weve made some inroads, said Dan Gavitt, NCAA vice president of mens basketball championships. The past couple years have been very positive in trying to change the direction we were on, but its an ongoing effort.College basketball began to bog down around the turn of the century as players got bigger and stronger and the game failed to adapt.By the 2012-13 season, scoring in Division I dropped to 67.5 points per game, lowest since 1951-52 -- long before the 3-point shot and shot clock were added. It was the fourth straight season scoring dropped.Shooting percentages and assists dropped, and 3-point shooting dipped to levels not seen since the arc was added in 1986. Fouls also were down, a sign that officials were letting them play, as they say.Once an offensive game, the game shifted toward the defense, the flow of games like being stuck in stop-and-go traffic.So what the NCAA did was turn to rules already in place, asking officials to start carrying them to the letter of the law.No more hand-checking, putting two hands on an opponent, using arm bars or jabbing. The block/charge, the most difficult call in basketball, was altered to limit the big crashes under that occur in every game. A restricted arc was created under the basket to prevent defenders from sliding under offensive players as they rose to the basket.Last season, the shot clock was reduced from 35 to 30 seconds in an effort to speed up the game.The NCAA has added to or tweaked the rules each season, hoping to hone the game into a much more high-scoring, free-flowing form.It certainly worked last season.Scoring rose from 67.2 points per game to 72.6, possessions per game climbed, field goal percentages and assists increased. Teams also averaged one more foul and one more free throw attempt per game.There was a sense a couple years ago that our ggame was favoring the defensive players a little too much, Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said.dddddddddddd We were losing some of the excitement, some of the flow, some of the athleticism, some of the scoring that fans seemed to want. I think weve encouraged some of the rule changes that have freed up the flow of play and shifted the balance a little bit more to the offense.This season, the NCAA has asked officials to pay more attention to the physical play in the post and fighting for rebounding position.Theres also a stronger emphasis on preventing defensive players from bellying up on ball handlers, creating a cylinder around the offensive player where any contact is a foul on the defense -- as long as the ball handler is making a normal basketball move.Overall, its made our game better and we need to continue to head in that direction to create as much, what I would call, freedom of movement, getting away from the tug-of-war-type basketball thats taken place in the past, particularly in the post, Washington State coach Ernie Kent said.The rules for the post are still a work in progress.Officials have been asked to call fouls when post players dislodge each other, a defender uses a swim move to get in front of the offensive player or if the defensive players lays on his opponent with more than incidental contact.The problem is determining how much contact is too much. Players have been taught for years to play a certain way in the post and asking them to make drastic changes to that will only slow the game down as fouls are continuously called.Players and coaches always find a way to adapt, but finding the right balance in the post will likely be a gradual process.We have a ways to go still in the low post, Gavitt said. That will be the challenge over the next few years. How do we get at the physical play in the low post without bias to the offensive or defensive player? How do you guard legally in the low post, how do you play offense legally in the low post? I think the game will be better when we move forward with that.---AP Sports Writer Janie McCauley in San Francisco contributed to this report. ' ' '