August is a hot, humid, and dry time of the year. It holds true for the NBA cycle too, unless you’re invested in NBA Power Rankings. In most circumstances, small forwards are changing the game more than any other position.

The league’s two strongest ambassadors today are setting the standard for what an ideal player should resemble, and it’s making other talents envy their skill-sets.

As the offseason slowly pushes through, we’ll continue chronicling each starting member at each position, and possibly give love to your buddies off the bench in September. They deserve a whole month to themselves.

If you missed the first two installments, you can find the point guards here, and the shooting guards here.

It should be acknowledged that the rankings are based off ESPN’s projected depth charts, which are appearing to be extremely similar to what we’ll see at the start of the season.

Due to the devastating downfall to Paul George and the Indiana Pacers, Larry Bird‘s star has to be left off. Here’s to a speedy recovery for George, and to his progress at jumping back into the list, in the top five where he rightfully will belong. Enjoy