A sports blog by and for Midwest Sports Fans
Just found this on Reddit, posted by Virgin_Headquarters, and I found myself unable to stop staring at it while trying to parse which parts are Dwyane Wade and which parts are Derrick Rose.
This really is one of the cleanest Photoshop face blends I’ve ever seen.
It’s just about that time my NBA crowd. Well, actually it’s well past ‘that’ time due to the foolishness experienced during this past off-season.
All of that is well behind us now, and since the lockout ended there have been numerous signings, trades, and a mess of pre-season games already played. All this can only mean that the NBA season is right around the corner, and it’s time to finally rank each team appropriately from top to bottom.
For Part One of this two-part series, which is inspired by ESPN’s attempt to rank all NBA players from 1-500, click here.
Remember, our goal here is to rank the top 25 players in the NBA right now.
Editor’s note: Since the NBA Finals ended, MSF writers have been submitting and defending their top 20 NBA players of all-time. You can see the aggregate list here. The goal was to see where Dirk fell, or if he fell, among the top 20 players ever after his sterling playoff run this year.
Below are the thoughts of Jon Washburn, who does include Dirk among his top 20 players ever. He also has the most unique top 3 of anyone who submitted a list, which is why I asked him to provide a detailed description of his top 20. And boy did he. Enjoy.
When I was a kid, Jim Harbaugh was the quarterback of my beloved Indianapolis Colts. One season, we started out 4-0 (we were the last team to lose a game that year) and ended up making the playoffs as a wild card. We went into San Diego and beat the defending AFC champs before going to Arrowhead Stadium and beating the 13-3 Kansas City Chiefs. We ended up losing to the Steelers in the famous “Hail Mary” game, and I cried for what seemed like an eternity.
Editor’s note: We are currently preparing an article in which a number of MSF writers submitted their top 20 NBA players of all-time. The goal is to see where Dirk falls in the top 20, or if he even makes it at all. Evan decided to narrow his scope a bit and go with the top 20 players of his lifetime. So we are posting his article first, with the mega top 20 article to come. Stay tuned…
Also note that Evan is 22 and says that he really started watching the NBA during the 1997-98 season.
It’s top-20 NBA Players mania around here right now, all thanks to Dirk Nowitzki’s superstar performance in earning his first ring this month. Everyone from announcers to journalists to bloggers are saying Dirk has hit legendary status, maybe even top 20 of all time. I think that sounds a tad high for Dirk, but he now has some serious hardware to reasonably back up the claim to a top-20 spot.
For my own part, I have always thought that the NBA MVP award was the most meaningful of any of the four major sports. Scan the list and you’ll notice every single winner is a Hall of Famer or well on his way to being enshrined. Dirk has his MVP award, he has his Finals MVP award, and most importantly he has his ring.
But is he on par with Larry Bird? Or is that just the most racially convenient historical comparison bandied by most experts?
Honestly, I don’t really know because I never actually saw Larry Bird play. But I have seen plenty of other great players, so for my Top-20 NBA Players list, I decided to restrict myself to those guys I’ve actually seen play. Here is my list with some highly subjective choices, some no doubters, and perhaps one begrudgingly included sharpshooter who burned my New York Knicks many years ago.
I am going to leave the serious analysis of the 2011 NBA Finals to Jon, Devon, and our other writers who are more passionate and knowledgeable about the NBA than I am.
While we wait for their perspective, I’ll instead do what I do best: find outstanding links as well as hilarious ways to put big moments into context.
The latter is below, presented in no particular order. Just a random assortment of humorous yet illuminating perspectives on one of the most epic NBA Finals I can remember.
For LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, and for Dirk Nowitzki as well, it’s time to write the concluding words in one more chapter of each of their legacies.
With a much scrutinized off-season long gone and an uphill battle of a regular season now behind them, the Miami Heat find themselves on the brink in the NBA Finals. And this isn’t just any ordinary NBA Finals, because there is way more on the line than an NBA championship.
I have seen LeBron James play in person just once, during his second season in the league. The Cavs were in town to play my hometown New York Knicks in a matchup of the most exciting young player in the league versus a team that featured Michael Sweetney, Moochie Norris, and Vin Baker. I sat down low around midcourt, craning my neck and standing on my tiptoes to watch LeBron warm up in layup lines. He was enormous, looking more like an NFL linebacker than an NBA forward, and he seemed to have boundless energy and springs for legs.
LeBron played an awful game.
None of you are idiots – you know that this is a must-win for Dallas.
So what can Dallas do, tonight, in order to extend the series?
Editor’s note: In this post, MSF’s NBA experts Devon Alexandre and Jon Washburn debate the NBA Finals.
Before the series started, Devon picked the Heat in 6. After Miami’s Game 1 victory, and undeterred Jon picked Dallas in 6. Clearly they have different views on the series. Let’s see who can justify their points better.
I watched last night’s Mavs-Heat game at Frankie’s here in Dallas, and you can imagine how great of an experience it was. Once D-Wade’s three from the corner put the Heat up 15, the air was almost completely let out of the building, but what happened over the next 7+ minutes re-filled the room with emotion, optimism, and excitement like few sporting events I’ve ever seen.
The NBA Finals have begun, and the chase for Dirk or LeBron’s first ring is underway.
This game came down to three things; defense; bench play; and rebounding. The Miami Heat are quite fond of all three, and they proved it last night. As for the Mavs, they had the game’s leading scorer, but that did not translate into a Game 1 W.
