In Part 1, I analyzed the ongoing debate between Rajon Rondo and Derrick Rose – and two different styles of point guard they represent.

In Part 2, I picked apart two myths we are hearing everywhere that are based on flawed logic – namely, that the Indiana Pacers will be good and that old teams will have a harder team with the shortened schedule than other teams.

And now, in Part 3, I will discuss an Eastern Conference superstar who could be poised to make the leap to legend – Carmelo Anthony – and provide my prediction for which team will represent the East in this year’s Finals.

Carmelo Anthony: Current Star, Future Legend

You already know about LeBron.  Nothing matters this year unless he wins a championship.

And oh yes, he has to play well during crunch time of that championship run.

Unfortunately for him, I don’t think that happens for him this year.  Why?  Because of Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks.

Image credit: AP via Business Insider

So let’s talk about Carmelo.

• How good is he?
• Will the Knicks actually be good this year?
• Do they stand a chance in the playoffs?

First of all, how good is Carmelo Anthony?

For some reason, basketball – more than any other sport – leads itself to having us rank players in some grand list.  Even though you really can’t compare Carmelo to guys like Derrick Rose or Dwight Howard, we try to every year.

So what do we know about Carmelo Anthony?  I think we know two things: he’s the best scorer in the league, and he’s one of the most clutch players in basketball.

As a scorer, he simply has no holes.  If you put somebody small on him, he will post up and murder you.  If you put somebody bigger and slower and him, he will get to the rim easily.  He can shoot threes.  He can shoot from the midrange.  He can create his own shot.  He can catch and shoot.  He can get to the free throw line.

Basically, he’s LeBron James, only a 1/2 step slower, but with a jump shot that is 20x more consistent.

When it gets to crunch time, nobody has an answer for him.  Not even LeBron James can guard Carmelo – he can just do too many things.

So where does that leave the Knicks?

Amare’ Stoudemire admitted yesterday that he feels like this is the third team he’s been a part of in his year and a half in New York.

It’s a good thing for him that it’s also the best team.

Now let’s not get carried away – the Knicks definitely have some holes.  If Baron Davis isn’t good, they won’t have a PG.  They have a DANGEROUS lack of depth.

However, they have, without a doubt, the best front line in the league.  They also have the best scorer.

So then, do they stand a chance in the playoffs?

It completely depends upon who they play.  Ironically, I think they match up REALLY well against the Heat and really poorly against the Bulls.

Let’s walk through five incredibly conceivable scenarios that would have to take place for New York to beat Miami:

1. Let’s say the Heat grab the one-seed and New York ends up 4th or 5th (not inconceivable at all, right?).
2. The Knicks could ABSOLUTELY beat the Heat in Round Two.  Their biggest weakness (point guard) won’t matter at all against the Heat, because they share the same weakness.  And actually, if Baron Davis returns to the old Davis at all, that could be a matchup that New York wins (the second part is somewhat inconceivable, but the first part is incredibly conceivable).
3. Carmelo could definitely outplay, or at least outscore LeBron in a playoff series (very conceivable).
4. The combination of Tyson Chandler and Amare Stoudemire would destroy Bosh/Haslem/Joel Anthony (COMPLETELY conceivable).
5. Basically, the series would come down to Dwyane Wade.  And in the playoffs, when it’s harder and harder to get to the rim, if Wade shoots poorly, the Knicks could win in six games at MSG. (Semi-conceivable…right?  I know…now I’m reaching.)

Unfortunately, the Knicks can’t really match up with the Bulls.  They have no answer for Derrick Rose.  Luol Deng would annoy Anthony to no end.  They have the bigs to play with Amare and Chandler.  And their depth would kill them.

So how does this year’s Eastern Conference shape up?

In round one, the Heat sweep the Hawks, the Bulls sweep the Magic, The Celtics beat the 76ers in five, and the Knicks beat the Pacers in five.

In round two, the Knicks STUN the Heat in six games, and the Celtics narrowly lose to the Derrick Rose-led Bulls in seven.

In the Eastern Conference Finals, Rose has his way with the Knicks and averages 42 as they win in five, moving onto The Finals.

So yes, just like every other year in the 90s, I’m predicting the Knicks edge out the Pacers before beating the Heat in an awesomely competitive playoff series, before losing to the Bulls.  Again.

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.

Be sure to follow me on twitter for full updates, rumors and more!

Without further ado I present to you my official 2011-12 NBA Pre-Season Power Rankings (last season’s record in parentheses).

1. Miami Heat (58-24)

The talents in South Beach have now played one full, strong, and hate-filled season with each other. So now what?

Image source: Getty via Yahoo

Expect LeBron, Wade, and Bosh to each come back even better than last season (scary), expect Erik Spoelstra to have a better handle on his squad, and expect much better chemistry than we’ve seen.

The addition of Shane Battier should help an already great Miami defense, Eddy Curry is a low-risk, high reward signing, and with rookie Norris Cole now in the mix the Heat now have a solid rotation at the point guard spot.

All excuses are to be thrown out the window. Now it’s time to see what the Heat are truly capable of: an NBA championship.

2. Oklahoma City Thunder (55-27)

The Thunder start and end with the production of Kevin Durant. So I can end my argument there, right? Not quite.

With the Thunder falling to the eventually-named NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks, it can be assumed that a lot has been learned. The Thunder didn’t acquire any big time players this off-season, but it’s clear that personnel isn’t needed on this roster.

The key factors needed on this team are maturity, chemistry, and execution. If the Thunder can keep the athleticism, college-type atmosphere, and add a drop of maturity and experience to the formula, there’s nothing stopping them from playing in June.

3. Chicago Bulls (62-20)

Last season was clearly a season to remember for the Chicago area. Derrick Rose won MVP, the play of Noah and Deng rose to previously unseen levels, head coach Tom Thibodeau gave us a reason to believe he is a defensive guru, and the Bulls finished with the league’s best record.

While all that is fine and dandy, the Bulls couldn’t make it to the Finals, courtesy of the Miami Heat.

With D.Rose and company now knowing what they are capable of, what can they do to push even further?

The acquisition of vet Rip Hamilton was a great signing, as the lack of a 2-guard showed in the ECF against Miami. While Rip is no Wade or LeBron, he provides the Bulls with athleticism, a great shooter, and the experience needed deep in the post-season. Whether or not it will be enough is still to be seen.

4. Dallas Mavericks (57-25)

The defending NBA Champions. It has a nice zing to it, especially to Mark Cuban, so expect him to try and keep it that way.

While Dallas loses some major points for not being able to keep Tyson Chandler, Caron Butler, and even JJ Barea, they get a ton of points for the following: Lamar Odom, Vince Carter, Delonte West. Not only did Dallas get exactly what they needed, long-athletic wing players, but they also stole a key ingredient to the Lakers’ success.

Dirk is still going to be an all-time great, Rick Carlisle will continue to be a great schemer, and I expect the Mavs to cruise into the playoffs yet again, but will the age of their roster begin to show? Maybe, maybe not.

I was certainly wrong last year.

5. Los Angeles Clippers (32-50)

This might be the first time in history that the Clippers will be ahead of the Lakers in most power rankings across the land. Check the history books.

The LA Clips went from the Blake Griffin show last season, to now possibly being able to compete for an NBA title…possibly.

While the acquisition of Chris Paul is the sole reason for vaulting the Clippers into another realm, there is more to the story here. They also brought in vets Caron Butler and Chauncey Billups, two great scoring threats with veteran experience who both seem to have the knack of hitting keys shots in big situations. There’s also the ever-improving DeAndre Jordan, whom I believe will be one of the better big men out West.

But at the end of the day, the Clippers will go as far as CP3 & Blake Griffin take them. Will this season just be full of SportsCenter Top 10 plays, or do the Clippers actually have the will to fight off history, their across-town rival Lakers, and every test that comes their way? I sure as hell can’t wait to find out.

Image credit: Harry How/Getty Images via Yahoo

6. Los Angeles Lakers (57-25)

One of the most confusing and disorientated off-season’s for a single team that I’ve seen in a while. They were supposedly going to end up with Dwight Howard, then Chris Paul, and they ended up with a Odom-less team.

Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Andrew Bynum are still one of the better trios in the NBA in my opinion, but the question will always remain: can they stay healthy? With Kobe’s continuous history of injuries and Bynum’s weak knees, it is evident that the injury bug has a thing for the yellow and purple.

Then there is the issue of how thin this roster has gotten over the years, and it showed when they were swept by the Mavericks last season. Let’s not also forget that this will be the first season for ex-Cavalier head coach Mike Brown, who has a very hard test for his first year.

Again, talent is not an issue for the Lakers, but the real issues will be avoiding injury, getting accustomed to a new-look system, and being able to block out all of he recent turmoil out in Lakerland. If they can do all of this then there is still a chance for a title, but if not…forget about it.

7. New York Knicks (42-40)

In Tyson Chandler the Knicks landed themselves the second best acquisition of the off-season, right behind the Clips landing CP3.

First it was Amar’e, then it was Carmelo, and now with Chandler I really do believe the Knicks have landed the last big piece they needed to go from playoff contender to title contender. Tyson brings the Knicks a much needed defensive presence in the middle that can do all the dirty work, such as blocking a shot, rebounding, or getting the valuable tip-ins. The most beautiful part of the acquisition is that Chandler doesn’t need many touches, and he most likely won’t get many with Melo and Amar’e on the floor.

Image credit: Yahoo

The Knicks now have one of if not the best front-court in the league, and they are now deemed ‘title contenders’ by head coach Mike D’Antoni. A stretch? Maybe, maybe not.

8. San Antonio Spurs (61-21)

The Spurs almost always seem to find a way to ignore the media, ignore the power rankings, and surprise us all with a 50-60+ win season, so at this point I’ve realized I can’t doubt them anymore. But what I can do is point out their pros and their cons.

Greg Pop is definitely the cream of the crop when it comes NBA coaches, and he seems to always get the best out of whoever he has on the court (see Matt Bonner, DeJaun Blair etc). The loss of George Hill will hurt the team, but with young pieces like Splitter, Blair, and draft pick Kawhi Leonard, the Spurs have a healthy mix of age and youth. Never mind the fact that the Tim Duncan has stated he’s in the ‘best shape of his life’, Manu is coming off of a restful off-season, and Tony Parker should bring what he usually brings.

Like always, the Spurs will be threatening.

 9. Boston Celtics (56-26)

Once again we will begin to hear that the Celtics have lost a step, that Pierce, Allen and KG are no longer in their prime, and that age will continue to hurt this team. But the funny thing is every time that we dismiss this team as a title contender, they come back and do the same thing: prove to us that they are an elite team in the league.

So once again I think Boston has a shot at a title.

The loss of Jeff Green for the season is bigger than most think. With a team full of aging players, Boston will need all of the youth it can obtain.

The acquisition of Brandon Bass gives the Celtics a stronger inside presence than the departed Glen Davis did, and Rajon Rondo will continue to be the Rondo we know and love.

As for the ‘Big Three,’ this is quite frankly their final chance at winning an NBA title, and could the thought of that spark Beantown to find the ‘Fountain Of Youth?’ Or will this be the end of a great Celtics team? Time will tell.

10. Denver Nuggets (50-32)

Losing Carmelo for the Nuggets is now going to pay off.

With the herd of players acquired in the multi-team deal which sent Carmelo to New York, the Denver Nuggets were looking at a very bright future, whether it was with the numerous trading pieces they had or the potential to build a very deep team. It got even better once the Nuggets were able to re-sign Nene and Aaron Afflalo, and now the Nuggets might be able to be what they were after the Carmelo trade: the NBA’s most efficient defensive team.

With George Karl’s masterful ability at putting together great rotations, and the unselfish play of this Denver team, consider them my sleeper. Watch out if you’re out West.

11. Memphis Grizzlies (46-36)

The Grizzlies were by far the surprise team in the playoffs last season, getting into the second round after beating the Spurs without their all-star Rudy Gay. Now with a healthy Rudy Gay, a returning Marc Gasol, and the continued success of Zach Randolph, Memphis is looking better than ever.

While the loss of Shane Battier and the season-long injury of Darrel Arthur will hurt the team’s depth, the Grizz will definitely be in the playoffs and have that same ‘upset’ potential as they did last season.

12. Atlanta Hawks (44-38)

Atlanta has never been able to get out of the ‘middle of the road’ team, and that shouldn’t change this season.

While word has it that Josh Smith was working on his game amazingly in the off-season, the issue will always be personnel. Joe Johnson and Al Horford are both great players, but other than the three mentioned Atlanta doesn’t have much.

Unless the Hawks can somehow resurrect the TMac from his Orlando days, and bring Marvin Williams into his own, don’t expect Atlanta to make it past the second round of the playoffs.

13. Indiana Pacers (37-45)

The Pacers haven’t been anything more than a lottery team for nearly a decade, and only as of late are they beginning to make moves that are starting to solidify them as playoff contenders.

Once Indiana stole David West from the hands of Danny Ainge, it became evident that Larry Bird is moving this team up. Surrounding Danny Granger with players who have great upside like Roy Hibbert, George Hill, and Darren Collison, plus vets like David West, should put the Pacers in a position to do great things in a few years.

As for now, enjoy them for what they are.

14. Orlando Magic (52-30)

Let’s be honest here; the only reason I don’t have Orlando somewhere within the 20′s is because of the fact that they haven’t lost Dwight Howard. Yet.

This off-season has been hell for the Lakers as well as the Orlando Magic. The rumors have come from all sides pulling Dwight to the Nets, Lakers, Mavericks or wherever else he was supposed to end up. Now GM Otis Smith is in a not-so-good position, with a roster full of vets, an upset star, a confused head coach, and the title favorite right down the road in South Beach.

I might even go as far to say that they don’t make the playoffs, but that’s only because I don’t expect Dwight to be there come playoff time.

15. Philadelphia 76ers (41-41)

The Sixers, much like Indiana, are another team that has found themselves with a lot of upside. Now it’s time for Philly’s front-office to do something. It’s either the Sixers stay in the middle of the pack, or somewhere along the lines a move is made to move Philly up the ladder.

With players like Evan Turner, Thaddeus Young, Jrue Holiday and Iggy, Philly has that ‘sleeper’ factor. But unfortunately, that’s all there is to them right now.

16. Portland Trailblazers (48-34)

In one of the sadder stories I believe the NBA has ever experienced, Brandon Roy decided to retire due to his numerous fights with knee injuries. And that right there pretty much sums up how these past few years for Portland has been, whether it be Greg Oden, Brandon Roy, or their numerous role players being missed for significant portions of the year.

But what’s done is done, and Nate McMillan actually still has a solid team to work with, and a great chance at making the post-season.

Recently signed Jamal Crawford should give Portland a great scoring spark, Kurt Thomas should give them a strong inside presence.

17. Houston Rockets (43-39)

Houston was a team in this off-season that was very much in the middle of trade discussions, usually as a third team. They were also serious bidders for Tyson Chandler, Nene, and Marc Gasol. In the end, nothing was accomplished and life goes on.

Newly appointed head coach Kevin McHale still has a team with a lot of potential, especially down on the block with guys like Patrick Patterson, Jordan Hill, and even Hasheem Thabeet. But the clear leader on this team is Chuck Hayes, and depending on how good they’ll all able to blend will decide if they can make a run at a playoff spot.

18. New Orleans Hornets (46-36)

The Hornets lost two of their best players in the past 5 years in Chris Paul and David West, so it’s clearly time to rebuild.

Thanks to the amazing GM skills of David Stern, the Hornets were actually able to land some really nice pieces. Acquiring Eric Gordon gives the Hornets a great sniper from the wing, Chris Kaman gives them a strong interior vet, and some very valuable draft picks which will most likely result in a couple lottery picks.

On to the future NOLA!

19. Phoenix Suns (40-42)

Over the past few seasons Phoenix has gone from a strong playoff contender to the old folks ‘chill’ team.

All jokes aside, the two key players on this roster are still Steve Nash and Grant Hill. Both seem to be, and play, at least 5 years younger than what they really are.

But let’s be honest, it’s going to take more than what the Suns have to be able to come close to a title. There is a chance Nash and Co. don’t even make the post-season.

20. Milwaukee Bucks (35-47)

The Bucks might not be in title contention this year, but they are a very pesky team. By this I mean they have a team that has the ability to beat any team in the NBA when caught off guard.

With a big man like Bogut, and a point guard like Brandon Jennings, the Bucks have something to build on. While the loss of Corey Maggette will hurt, the signing of Stephen Jackson might be enough to bring Milwaukee back into the post-season.

I sure as hell want to see those ‘Fear The Deer’ posters again!

21. Sacramento Kings (24-58)

With the fans now being able to keep their team in Sac-Town, they actually have something great to look forward to: the future.

The Kings probably won’t make the post-season this year, but they do have one of the more exciting young players in the league in Tyreke Evans. Alongside DeMarcus Cousins, these two should eventually become All-Stars, right? And with newly acquired JJ Hickson, the Kings just might be watchable this season.

22. Golden State Warriors (36-46)

The Warriors are yet another team that attempted to do some big things this off-season. They couldn’t acquire Chris Paul like they had hoped, they couldn’t land Nene or Chandler, and they ended up paying Kwame Brown about $7 million this season.

Nice.

While Mark Jackson seems like a good fit, and Monta Ellis & Stephen Curry are both great offensive threats, this team has no defense whatsoever. Look for the Warriors to try and make a bold move before the deadline.

23. Minnesota Timberwolves (17-65)

The TWolves probably will have one of the more exciting rosters in two years if they can keep Ricky Rubio, Kevin Love, Derrick Williams and Michael Beasley all together. But for now it’s all about chemistry, building a foundation, and learning the ropes with one another.

Don’t expect the playoffs within the next couple of years, but enjoy watching this team grow into something solid.

Should be fun for Minny fans.

24. New Jersey Nets (24-58)

Another big loser this off-season is the Nets.

While they failed at landing Dwight Howard, they still have Deron Williams and the entice of the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

I’m going to be honest here, I’m probably not going to be paying much attention until Dwight Howard ends up in Brooklyn.

Yup, you heard right.

25. Detroit Pistons (30-52)

Detroit has finally seemed to begin its build towards the future by drafting exciting guard Brandon Knight. This is another team that should be interesting to watch grow, as young guys like Austin Daye, Greg Monroe, and Jonas Jerebko hoop alongside one another.

Give it time Deeeeetroit.

26. Cleveland Cavaliers (19-63)

What!? What is this!? The Cavs are no longer at the bottom of the food chain Devon?

Why would they be? Kyrie Irving will eventually be a great point guard for Cleveland, and they still have solid pieces like Varejao, Omri Casspi, and a few nice draft picks along the way.

Hopefully by drafting Kyrie, he can bring this franchise destroyed by a former No.23 back to the playoffs within a couple of years.

27. Washington Wizards (23-59)

With John Wall now having a year’s worth of NBA experience under his belt, it should help this Wizards team come even closer to a playoff spot (even though I don’t think they make it).

Washington should have some fun watching these kids hoop. With newly drafted Jan Vesely, Andray Blatche, and Javal McGee down low, expect some SportsCenter clips the next morning.

28. Utah Jazz (39-43)

The Jazz find themselves in a very awkward position; do we blow the team up, or try and progress?

Al Jefferson is still pretty young with a nice upside, but he’s also a very attractive trade piece. How about guys like Derrick Favors and Paul Millsap? That’s a lot of big men, so I expect Utah to make a move or two this year to form their future.

29. Charlotte Bobcats (34-48)

I really, really like the choice of Jordan drafting Kemba Walker and Bismack Biyombo, two freakishly athletic guys, who should be very easy and flexible to build around.

Other than that, it’s going to be interesting watching MJ piece this roster together in the coming years.

30. Toronto Raptors (22-60)

Newly appointed head coach Dwyane Casey is going to have the chance of turning the numerous big-men the Raptors have into something, guys like Ed Davis, Andrea Bargnani, Amir Johsnon..

Who am I kidding? The Raptors are going to be a tough team to watch this season.

At least Canada has Steve Nash, right?

Thanks for reading folks!

Included in that ‘some’, is LeBron James, but his experience last year will make him better in the long run.

Losing the Finals in six games to the supposed ‘underdog’ Dallas Mavericks, the Miami Heat finished a season filled with turmoil, negativity, and an amount of hate unseen for any team in the history of sports. Much of the hate is credited to the former Cleveland Cavalier, whom overnight went from a player loved by millions to hated by millions.

Image via: NikeLeBron.net

While it is clear that LeBron did have a rough season mentally with all of the criticism directed towards he and his teammates, LeBron continued to perform well statistically throughout the season.

That is until he finally cracked in the NBA Finals.

All of this seemed to be lost in the hectic confusion of the NBA lockout. LeBron was no longer the center of attention in the NBA world, as eyes were glued to board meetings, suits & ties, and whether or not David Stern would budge.

So instead of hearing about LeBron signing a new multi-million dollar contract with a clothing line, or guaranteeing multiple NBA championships, we witnessed a side of LeBron that was new to many; a more mature side if you will.

As I kept an open eye on the lockout, I couldn’t seem to divert my attention away from the talents down South; particularly LeBron. You see, I’m a firm believer in ‘it’s not the mistakes you make, but how you respond to them.’ So I took the time to watch how James would respond to his second Finals letdown.

Instead of talking, No. 6 was either in the gym, hooping it up with fellow NBA stars, or in Drew League games, or even tossing the pigskin around with Kevin Durant. Not only was all of this impressive, but it made me wonder if LeBron is finally coming around.

While LeBron always had the talent, he never faced adversity like he faced last year in his life. Always loved, adored, and supported by us all, but now with a hate-filled season in his rearview mirror, LeBron might have had no choice but to man-up.

It showed in this interview with Rachel Nichols:

The one word that came to mind after watching this, was scary.

Could LeBron now have become an even better player on a mental level?

The aura portrayed by LeBron not only shows that a lesson was learned, but it shows that he’s faced the music, smelled the coffee, and is now admiting to his faults.

So not only do I believe that season number eight for LeBron was his most important, but last season – despite the disappointments – might have unlocked a level of awareness and maturity in James that will stun us all in the upcoming 66-game season.

Image via: Yahoo Sports

Don’t say I never told you.

Remember, our goal here is to rank the top 25 players in the NBA right now.

A quick review of the criteria:

Bill Gates, an extremely under-the-radar die-hard basketball fan, approaches you with an idea. The NBA lockout will not be resolved this year.  Mr. Gates has decided to fund a rogue basketball league for the next six months.  Here are the rules:

• There will be 25 teams.
• Every player in the world is up for grabs.
• You are presented with the #1 pick.
• We are using the exact same game rules as the NBA (example: no hand-checking, so quick guards maintain their ridiculous advantage).
• The draft will follow the incredibly boring old-school non-snake style…so you get the 1st pick…and the 26th pick…and the 51st pick…etc.  Does this make it extremely unfair for the guy picking 25th?  Sure.  Who cares.  Just think about yourself in this scenario.
• Salaries don’t matter…Bill Gates will pay all 1st round picks $20 million dollars, all 2nd round picks $5 million dollars, 3rd round picks $3 million dollars…and so on.
• The league will last for four months exactly.  Come June, the NBA lockout will be resolved, and even though they lost a season, they will be ready to come back in 2012.
• The GM of the winning team gets $50 million dollars and the opportunity to become the new GM of the Portland Trail Blazers – the team that Bill Gates just stole from Paul Allen in a move that has the entire business world in a frenzy.

Who do you pick?

The reason for all of these rules is simple.

• It doesn’t matter which NBA player has the most future potential.
• It doesn’t matter which NBA players have championship rings under their belts.
• It doesn’t matter who each NBA player currently plays with.
• Nothing matters but this:  Who is the best player, right now, in the NBA.

As promised, here is my top 25.

Guys who narrowly missed the cut: Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Marc Gasol, Rudy Gay, Tony Parker, Joakim Noah, Joe Johnson, Danny Granger, Andrew Bogut, and Stephen Curry.

 25. Al Jefferson

Jefferson is one of maybe five guys in the entire league that commands a double team in the low post. He averaged 19 and 10 last season, and he even improved on the defensive end where he blocked almost two shots a game. Another issue that has flown under the radar is that besides his major knee injury a few seasons ago, he’s surprisingly durable – he’s only missed six games in the past four years otherwise.

24. Manu Ginobili

At 34 years old, Manu’s prime is probably behind him. However, this will still only be his tenth year in the league, and he has a lot left in the tank for the near future. Last season, he was clearly the Spurs’ best player, averaging 17, 5, and 4 for a team that finished with the best record in the West. A lot of what Manu does can’t be measured in stats though – like catching bats with his bare hands.

For those of you that think Manu is overrated, I offer you this: List five shooting guards in the NBA who are better than him. Can’t do it, can you? Manu still got game.

23. Monta Ellis

Ok ok…don’t freak out. Monta is the first of several guys that we will talk about that is just, unfortunately, trapped on a terrible team in a system that is not right for him. Remember the criteria for this exercise: you get to build the team. Are there three reasons why he couldn’t be a poor man’s Allen Iverson with the right players?

First of all, the rules favor Monta more than they EVER favored Iverson. If you could team Ellis up with a tall point guard that’s a good shooter and could guard other shooting guards (Jason Kidd), and even a remotely decent big man that could shoot the rock from 20 feet (David Lee, Paul Millsap, etc.), wouldn’t Ellis be absolutely TERRIFYING to guard one-on-one? If you spread the floor with shooters, and big men that could bang inside and shoot, Ellis would be fabulous.

22. Paul Pierce

Pierce, at 34, is still getting it done on both ends of the floor. He averaged 19 points a game last season for a team that had a surprisingly low number of scorers. He routinely guards the other team’s best player, and he is incredibly durable. He’s boring, old-school, and tough. And he’s still a top 25 player in the league.

21. Kevin Love

ESPN listed Love as the #16 overall player in the league. Here is my counter. Didn’t we see what Kevin Love’s ceiling as a team’s best player was last season? Sure, he’s a double-double machine, but the T-Wolves were absolutely terrible.

Yes, they have an awful GM. And yes, they also had 35 small forwards on their team. However, Chris Bosh did more with just as little for years in Toronto. I love the big fella, but he’s not better than ANY of the next five guys – who all happen to be Power Forwards as well.

20. Chris Bosh

• Is Bosh languishing away on a team that doesn’t cater to his strengths in the least bit? Yes.
• If Bosh was traded for someone half as good but with a game like Joakim Noah, would the Heat be much better? Yes.
• Is Bosh way too much of a finesse big man for the Heat to succeed? Possibly.
• But is Bosh still a great player? Yes.

Just remember what he did on Team USA when the team made sense. If you drafted Chris Bosh, you could draft a guy like Noah to play beside him, do all the dirty work, and play defense – enabling Bosh to be an unguardable force on the high post – just like he was in Toronto.
Bosh has taken a lot of heat (no pun intended), but on the right team, in the right system, he is still absolutely one of the best players in the game.

19. Al Horford

Horford is another guy that is stuck on a team that doesn’t cater to his strengths at all. However, he is so unselfish that he has filled the hole in the Hawks for years with nary a complaint. In all actuality, he’s a very skilled big man that can shoot and pass very well. For the Hawks, he’s stuck defending the other team’s best big man every game, and trying to grab every single rebound that Josh Smith doesn’t tip dunk.
He’s been playing a rough, tough game for four years now, even though that’s not necessarily his strength. Put him on the right team, and he will blossom into so much more.

18. Amare Stoudemire

What can you say about Amare that hasn’t been said already? Are his knee problems terrifying to think about for Knicks fans? Yes. Does he constantly play “matador” defense AT BEST? Yes. Is he an arrogant player who fits right in with the other stars in New York? Yes.
But he’s also the third best scoring big man in the league, as well as a surprisingly effective player in crunch time. I would take Amare for one year any day of the week.

17. Blake Griffin

When I first saw that ESPN had Griffin at #10, I freaked out. Then I thought further. He had to play for Mike Dunleavy, they never ran plays for him, and there really were no good passers on the Clippers last year. Despite all of that, he averaged 23 and 12.

The excitement that Griffin brings to the floor is unmatched, and the intensity with which he plays is unbelievable. Unfortunately, I’m not sure HOW MUCH that actually translates into winning games. Would Griffin be a top 3 player if this was about the future? Definitely. However, if we are just looking at this year, there are still some other guys left on the board that have more complete games, and have proven to be better winners than the youngster.

16. LaMarcus Aldridge

Aldridge might be the most underrated player in the league. What is it about Portland players being underrated? For years, Brandon Roy was the guy that didn’t get nearly enough credit, and now it’s the big man that he was drafted with.

Very quietly, Aldridge averaged 22 and 9 last season, as he led the Blazers to a surprising playoff birth. He also shot a very good 50% from the field and even 80% from the foul line. He’s one of the best big men scorers in the league, and is a much better passer and defender than Amare and Blake.

15. Steve Nash

Is he almost over the hill? Sure. Is he over the hill yet? Only if averaging 15 points and 11 assists with percentages of 49/91/40 is bad.

The fact is that Steve Nash practically wrote the book on how a point guard should run a team in this era. I think it’s clear to everyone, now, that HE was the engine in the machine, not Mike D’Antoni.

As long as you surround Nash with a few shooters and a big man that can protect the rim, Nash’s teams are a lock for the playoffs.
I have to be careful with Nash, because I love him so much that hyperboles can start rolling shamelessly off my tongue. But make no mistake about it. Nash is the best teammate in the league, and if I had the #15 pick and he was still on the board, I would take him in a heartbeat.

14. Pau Gasol

Pau is one of those guys that’s 10x more impressive when you watch him live. He has more skill than almost every other big man, and is actually a very good teammate (consider the fact that he has meshed with Kobe, World Peace, the Kardashians, and more for the past several years).

I probably don’t even need to spend much more time defending him. In my mind, he’s not only the fourth best big man in the league, he’s a winner.

13. Zach Randolph

To be honest, I wanted to put the big man higher. There is no more dominant big man in the league right now on the offensive side of the ball than Z-Bo. He can shoot the three, he can post you, he can hit the midrange j, and he can pass…all while possessing a 10 inch vertical. If Randolph were white, he would be hailed as the next Kevin McHale. Instead, people keep focusing on his troubled past and saying, “Let’s see him do it again.”

Not me. Randolph is simply unstoppable with the ball in his hands. And in a league with so few big men, that makes him the 13th best player in the league.

Crap. Now I want to rank him higher. Let me just move on before I talk myself into anything foolish.

12. Deron Williams

Well, I think we can all put to rest the Deron Williams vs. Chris Paul arguments for the time being. Even so, D-Will is still a fantastic player.
He’s probably the most complete scorer at the PG position in the league, and his size advantage allows him to tire out most other PGs every single game.

Unfortunately for Deron, I’m not sure if he’s really a great team player. A guy can have high assist numbers without actually making his team better, and I’m afraid Deron is one of those guys.

11. Rajon Rondo

Instead of talking about what Rondo CAN’T do (shoot the ball), let’s discuss what he CAN do.

Without a doubt, he’s the best defensive point guard in the league. And in a league where nobody can guard anybody, that’s an invaluable quality.

Further than that, he’s the third best passer in the league behind Nash and CP3. He averaged over 11 assists a game last year…and NOBODY was playing him to score. Teams went into games knowing that Rondo was going to pass first…and he still abused them.

Sure, he’s a bad shooter. That’s fine. I’ll still take a guy who is going to be the fiercest player on the floor in every game, and who will have his teammates’ undying respect at all times.

10. Russell Westbrook

There is no better example of a “Table” player in the league. He brings so much to the dinner table…and yet takes so much away.

Is he possibly a bad teammate for Kevin Durant? There’s no question.

However, I will never forget opening night from last season when he went mano-y-mano with Derrick Rose down the stretch…and beat him.
All I’m saying is this. If you traded Westbrook for Rose last season, I don’t think there would have been a huge difference. Sure, Chicago may have won 5 fewer games, but all things considered, I think Westbrook would have been a SLIGHTLY poor man’s MVP.

So basically, you have a guy who is 97% as good as Derrick Rose. That’s amazing. He’s definitely a top ten player in my book…especially if I could build my team around him the right way.

9. Carmelo Anthony

Charles Barkley once said that Carmelo was the easiest and most complete scorer in the league. I agree. There are six ways to score: Shoot the three, shoot off the dribble, shoot off the pass, post up, get to the rim, and get to the foul line. Carmelo can do all of those with ease.
That is why he is, every year, one of the best clutch scorers in the game. There is simply no fool-proof way to guard him down the stretch.
He is also an above average rebounder and an underrated passer. If he gave even 75% on defense, Carmelo would be higher.

8. Kobe Bryant

Alright, Laker fans. Just do as I say. Breathe in. Breathe out. Count to ten. Now listen.

There are not many people that love Kobe more than me. I actually think he’s going to have a better career than Michael Jordan. However, he’s a shell of his former self. And you really can’t argue otherwise.

He averaged 25 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists last year – very good, but not other-worldly. He also had VERY average percentages of 45/83/32.

The fact is, he can no longer get to the rim whenever he wants. He’s also not a good three point shooter, and hasn’t been for several years now.

He is what he is. 1998 Michael Jordan. He just kills you with his back to the basket.

The only problem is that the league is much better today than it was in 1998. An unathletic Michael Jordan might still have been one of the top ten athletes in the league back then. An unathletic Kobe just has way more problems in 2011.

I know he has more rings. I know he’s accomplished great things. I know he’s a warrior.

But for THIS year? With the game he has RIGHT now? These next seven guys are, simply, better.

7. Dwyane Wade

There is literally no way that you could look at the numbers from last season and objectively argue that Kobe is better than Wade at this point. Kobe is a better shooter, but that’s it. Wade is a better slasher, he’s more explosive getting to the rim, he’s a better passer, and he’s CLEARLY a better defender at this point. (Don’t be fooled by the ridiculous All-NBA Defensive Teams…Kobe hasn’t been an elite defender for three years now.)

The guy that gets Wade at #7 will be licking his chops.

6. Kevin Durant

He can do almost everything that Carmelo can do (he can’t post up consistently yet) at a slightly better rate. He may not be the easiest and most complete scorer in the league, but he is the best scorer.

He’s also a leader, and loves to have the rock in crunch time. He dominated for Team USA, and he was a manimal in the playoffs last year.
Having him #6 is not a slight either. Again, if this were a draft for the future, he could very well be #1. These other five guys are just a little bit better than him RIGHT now.

5. Dwight Howard

I had more trouble with D-12 than I had with anyone else on this list. On the one hand, he’s the best defensive big man in the league, and has a growing offensive game. Nobody can guard him. Nobody is as big as he is. He’s very unselfish. He’s a game-changer in every single way.
However, this Superman has a kryptonite as well – free throw shooting.

Dwight Howard, for all of his positives, runs away from the ball in crunch time. The next four guys don’t.

Will Howard make your team a lock for the playoffs every single year? Yes. However, he’s not guaranteeing me a title unless I get some really good play from other players. That’s why he comes no higher than #5.

4. Dirk Nowitzki

Just look at what Dallas did with him in the lineup last year. I could spend hours talking about how good he is in crunch time, how effective he is on the high post, and how great of a leader he is on and off the floor.

However, I’ll just leave it at this. Dirk has the second most unstoppable shot of all time…and that will give you a chance in every single game.

3. Derrick Rose

Last season’s MVP, and for good reason. With the way the rules are currently set up, there is just no real way to guard any point guard that is quick.

Rose was getting by his man with ease – before he had a jump shot. They were standing five feet off of him, and he was STILL blowing by them. Now that he has a more consistent jumper, he’s basically a cheat code.

He’s also an incredible defender, and hates to lose. I watched him single-handedly put the Pacers out of the playoffs last season. He’s a winner, and on the right team, he will win it all.

2. Chris Paul

The evolved Isiah Thomas. As long as he’s healthy, nobody makes his team better. Look at the Hornets’ roster, and give me one reason that they made the playoffs last year that doesn’t include “Chris Paul did…”

He can score at will, but chooses not to until his team is firing on all cylinders. He singlehandedly destroyed the Lakers in the playoffs, and did it in beautiful fashion.

He’s Coach K’s choice for PG on Team USA, and if not for the last guy on this list, he would be the best player in the league.

1. LeBron James

Trust me, I’m as much of a LeBron hater as anybody. But let’s talk about LeBron for a moment.

Is it his fault that he’s literally never had a competent GM putting together the right type of team around him? Remember, you get the first pick, and then you don’t get to pick again until #26. That means that there will be NO teams in this league with multiple superstars. In fact, very few teams in this league will even have multiple All-Stars. We have turned our new NBA into a socialistic league – all of the talent is divided up “equally.” If the teams were equal, would you really put your money on anybody else?

Look, I understand that LeBron shrunk in crunch time last year. That was the product of not knowing his place on the team. It’s easy to forget that LeBron took this team to the NBA Finals…by himself. It’s easy to forget that a team whose second best players were Mo Williams and Zydrunas Ilgauskas NEARLY beat a team that had Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Rajon Rondo.

In what world were the Cavs SUPPOSED to win any of those series’?

Give me LeBron with the #1 pick. At #26, I’ll take Marc Gasol. Then with #51, I’ll “reach” a little bit and pick Jason Terry (ranked #55 in ESPN’s rankings).

There’s really no way the #1 pick could be anybody else.

Would I take LeBron James on the Heat over Dirk Nowitzki on the Mavericks? Maybe not.

But if I can build my team around him, and all the other teams are equal, to me, it’s a no-brainer.

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What do you think?

Which selections do you agree or disagree with?

Let’s get some fun conversation going below.

Bill Gates, an extremely under-the-radar die-hard basketball fan, approaches you with an idea.

The NBA lockout will not be resolved this year.  Mr. Gates has decided to fund a rogue basketball league for the next six months.  Here are the rules:

• There will be 25 teams.
• Every player in the world is up for grabs.
• You are presented with the #1 pick.
• We are using the exact same game rules as the NBA (example: no hand-checking, so quick guards maintain their ridiculous advantage).
• The draft will follow the incredibly boring old-school non-snake style…so you get the 1st pick…and the 26th pick…and the 51st pick…etc.  Does this make it extremely unfair for the guy picking 25th?  Sure.  Who cares.  Just think about yourself in this scenario.
• Salaries don’t matter…Bill Gates will pay all 1st round picks $20 million dollars, all 2nd round picks $5 million dollars, 3rd round picks $3 million dollars…and so on.
• The league will last for four months exactly.  Come June, the NBA lockout will be resolved, and even though they lost a season, they will be ready to come back in 2012.
• The GM of the winning team gets $50 million dollars and the opportunity to become the new GM of the Portland Trail Blazers – the team that Bill Gates just stole from Paul Allen in a move that has the entire business world in a frenzy.

Who do you pick?

The reason for all of these rules is simple.

• It doesn’t matter which NBA player has the most future potential.
• It doesn’t matter which NBA players have championship rings under their belts.
• It doesn’t matter who each NBA player currently plays with.
• Nothing matters but this:  Who is the best player, right now, in the NBA.

ESPN has spent the last several weeks counting down every player in the NBA, from 500 (sorry Lavoy Allen) all the way to #1 (the controversial LeBron James).

Of course, this has sparked much debating, arguing, and name-calling.

• LeBron has never won anything…there is no way he could be #1!
• Kobe Bryant at #7?  Ridiculous!
• How is the defending MVP only #8?
• Blake Griffin at #10??? Already???
• Why isn’t Roy Hibbert in the top 5?!?!?

But let’s put our biases aside.  Let’s forget about the past and the future.  Who is #1…right now?

Below is ESPN’s Top 25.  I will be posting my top 25, with reasoning, later today.  But let’s start the debate now.  Tell me who YOU think is #1…and WHY.  Feel free to comment below, or hit me up on twitter @The_Dr_Twitch.

1. LeBron James
2. Dwight Howard
3. Dwyane Wade
4. Chris Paul
5. Dirk Nowitzki
6. Kevin Durant
7. Kobe Bryant
8. Derrick Rose
9. Deron Williams
10. Blake Griffin
11. Pau Gasol
12. Carmelo Anthony
13. Amare Stoudemire
14. Steve Nash
15. Russell Westbrook
16. Kevin Love
17. Rajon Rondo
18. Manu Ginobili
19. Tim Duncan
20. Zach Randolph
21. Paul Pierce
22. Kevin Garnett
23. LaMarcus Aldridge
24. Chris Bosh
25. Al Horford

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Other than the marketing tie-in very little about the McDonald’s game of Monopoly resembles the board game version, but I find that to be of little importance.

My Monopoly collection through the first 6 days.

You see, I love McDonald’s.  Even during the 11-month Monopoly offseason I eat there several times per week.  During the game season?  At least daily, sometimes more.  Morgan Spurlock ain’t got a damn thing on me.  Well, except a bunch of money, TV deals, and fame.  But at least I don’t go around whining about fast food being evil and hurting people.  I know how bad the stuff is for me and I choose to forge ahead with my orders of McNuggets and fries anyway.  If someone can’t drive by a restaurant without stopping in for a couple thousand calories that is their own fault, not the restaurant’s.

People always say things to me like “if you saw what actually goes into that food you wouldn’t eat it,” or “that’s not even real beef,” or even “I think I’m going to throw up all over myself just from seeing you order.”  To them I say “Point taken.  Now please give me some elbow room so I can devour this delicious mound of greasy, culinary excellence.”

As with bands, movies and teams, I feel compelled to defend McDonald’s when people deem it inferior to other eateries.  Since I often declare on my Commercial Grade site that I will not patronize a company if their advertising is exceedingly annoying, the latest McDonald’s commercial featuring LeBron James and promoting the Monopoly game puts me in a precarious position.

How am I going to justify this?

The commercial starts by giving us the random fact that the odds of any group of 4 people all being named Stacy is one in six million.  I like random facts, so we’re off to a decent start.

Next, we find out that the odds of winning a prize in the McDonald’s Monopoly game are one in four.  I’m still with you, Mickey D’s.  Keep the stats coming.  You never know when you can turn something into a gambling opportunity.

To demonstrate just how easy it is they show us one of the Stacys peeling a winning ticket for the million-dollar prize.  Granted, we don’t get to see the group’s reaction for long, but I know I would be going completely berserk if I turned over Boardwalk.  The Stacys react less enthusiastically than if they found out Sex and the City were being brought back to HBO for a 7^th season.

Now is the part where the commercial becomes pathetic.

Enter LeBron, the scourge of Cleveland (and maybe the entire country, outside South Beach).  The “Chosen One” takes a seat with his value meal as the narrator starts to gives us odds on LeBron’s declaration that the Heat would win 7 championships with him.  Unfortunately, King James, interrupts, saying “Come on, man.”

I know this is LeBron’s attempt at being self-deprecating.  He’s doing a bit of damage control, trying to limit the fallout of the disastrous “Decision” special and the ensuing Miami welcome party.  I don’t care.  He’s not earning any sympathy from me, no matter how much the golden arches tempt me to grant it.

You know how The Office makes people laugh but can also make them feel really uncomfortable due to the awkward situations the characters put themselves in?  That’s exactly how LeBron’s line delivery – “Free fries!” – and cheesy look back and forth makes me feel.

Side note – can someone please make an animated, slow motion gif of that side-to-side look?  We could then add unlimited hilarious captions to it.  You would be doing the Internet a huge favor, tech-savvy MSF reader.

After that the commercial tapers off, reeling off some more odds and rules with nothing particularly eye-opening to sway my opinion either way.

I wanted a lot more random stats, a lot more of LeBron’s bad acting, or a lot more of both.

I wanted a lot less Stacys, a lot less narration of self-explanatory nonsense, and a lot less of LeBron trying to be human.

Embrace the dark side, young LeBron.  Most people already dislike you (or at the very least dislike your decision to leave Cleveland to form your party posse in Miami) so you might as well make your transformation to full-fledged villain, a la Anakin at the end of Episode III, but without getting fully disfigured at the hands of your mentor.

Final note: I am 4 for 46 on my game pieces so far, winning 2 small McFlurrys, a breakfast sandwich and a medium fries (“Free fries!”).

Since the odds of winning are supposed to be 1 in 4, I am either really unlucky (probably) or the game is rigged (possibly).  The commercial wasn’t good, but neither my losing nor this ad are bad enough to keep me from playing the rest of the month.

Final Grade: C-

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Follow me on Twitter @keithmullett

www.commercialgradeblog.com

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Image credit: the-reel-mccoy.com

The lockout is expected to continue into the season, and possibly cancel the entire season. When players are planning on playing in Europe, it is obvious that there is no quick solution to the problem.

The seemingly best-case scenario is for a 50 game season to be played, which would completely change the schedule that was released. Each team plays every team in their conference at least three times, while playing each out of conference team twice. A 50 game season would not even allow a team to play the others twice, which would result in some teams not having a home game against tough teams such as the Mavericks or the Heat.

I realize that the NBA has to release a full schedule, but it seems silly with the current labor situation. There is but a remote possibility that a full season will be played. All that the making of this schedule results in is a group of angry NBA schedulers who have to design an entirely new schedule once the season actually starts.

But since a schedule was released, NBA fans might as well take a look at it, just for kicks.

The season starts in Dallas, where the champs face off against Chicago in the season opener. The late game features a title-contending Oklahoma City team travel to Los Angeles to take on the Lakers. Both of these games are on November 1st on TNT*.

*Note that this is a scheduled event that is likely to change. These games were made to get the hopes of fans up, but they are likely not going to happen. These games will likely take place in February, if not later in 2012. Instead, look forward to new episodes of Franklin and Bash every Thursday on TNT.

The Christmas games were also announced. The Celtics take on the Knicks, the Heat head into Dallas looking for revenge, and the Bulls will travel to L.A. to take on the Lakers. (One day I would like to say that a team is travelling into L.A. to take on the Clippers. One day).

These games on Christmas will also likely not happen, but should we really be upset? Instead of watching basketball, we will have to spend time with our family?

I know it sounds outrageous, but no NBA season could have positive effects on many people. People in Cleveland will not have to live with rage, and instead can be happy that LeBron cannot win a title if there is no season.

Fans in Minnesota will not have to suffer through a disappointing season by Ricky Rubio (though I hope he proves me wrong) and see their hopes dashed.

The only town that the lockout will not have an impact on is Miami, as the fans there do not know they have an NBA team. The only way for the citizens of Miami to know that there is a game is if the “bandwagon” arrives and takes them to the stadium. This, of course, occurs after the first quarter.

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.

Through it all, Harbaugh earned the nickname of “Captain Comeback” and became my favorite football player. For several years, I thought he was the greatest player of all time. Why? Because I felt like I shared something special with him. I grew up with him. I liked him. I wanted him to be the best.

It wasn’t until I got a little older and started comparing him to other players that I realized what he was: an inspiring player, but a mediocre one at that.

Life is like that sometimes.

When we like a guy, he holds a higher place in our hearts, regardless of anything else that happens. No matter who else comes along — for me, it was Peyton Manning…who I wanted to trade halfway through his rookie year — that new player will never be as good as the guy we grew up with.

All that to say, 98% of you are not going to like what I have to say in this post.

That’s fine. I realize that while you read this, you will feel like I’m making a personal attack on you. It will seem like I’m criticizing someone that you shared something with, someone who was special to you.

Most likely, I will not change anyone’s mind. That’s the beauty of sports – we all have our opinions, and it takes a lot to change them. It won’t bother me in the least bit if you read through this column and disagree with me. Honestly, I’m not one of those writers who writes controversial pieces just to drive cheap traffic…after all, I spent two months researching a 2700-word piece about college sports that had 18 footnotes and almost nobody read. You don’t have to agree with me, or even like me, but just remember I’m not flooding your inbox or twitter account with death threats, insults, and meaningless hyperboles.

So let’s just get to it. Let’s rank the twenty greatest NBA Players of all time.

The Context

A few quick but important notes:

I will be ranking this as if I were a GM creating a team. Knowing everything that we know, who would I draft to start my team? This has two huge ramifications.

A) Peak matters, but so does longevity.

Bill Walton may have had the greatest individual season a center has ever had; the guy missed 24 games in 1978, and was still voted that season’s MVP. You could make a very compelling argument that his peak was greater than any other center’s peak. However, he was really only healthy for 2 1/2 years. Knowing all of this, would you draft him #1 in a fantasy draft? Absolutely not. Would you hope and pray that he slid to the 5th or 6th round and you could post some amazing stats for a short period of time? Of course. But you just need more from a guy you are building your team around. (Remember this when you are beating your face on the table while reading who I had at #3).

We will also have to extrapolate a little bit with some of the current stars. Of course, this is very subjective and impossible to do, but I will try to be as conservative as possible with the predictions.

B) Era matters.

You will see that my list is heavily weighted towards the current era.

I’m not trying to disrespect the older players, but please understand…how good would Bill Russell, an incredibly smart and athletic 6’9” center with a limited offensive game REALLY be in today’s NBA? I’m just not sure. At the end of the day, he has to make the list because of his competitive fire (maybe the greatest competitor ever), his number of rings (simply staggering), and his defensive abilities. But let’s just be honest: we are all mildly terrified that Dwight Howard would pick Russell up, shove him in his pocket, and run all over the court with him. Plus, Russell was playing in a league that was mainly white. Wouldn’t Zach Randolph average like 50 points a game in Europe? Let’s just move on before I start offending people.

Again, none of this is meant as an insult to the old generation. Many of these players accomplished a lot against their peers. Unfortunately, I just don’t know how many of them would be successful if you dropped them into another era.

C) Rings matter…but are not necessarily the ultimate trump card.

Basketball is a team sport. It either takes two superstars, or one superduperstar and great role players, to win a championship. Just because a guy like Charles Barkley never won a ring doesn’t mean he can’t make our top 20. His best teammate during his prime was Kevin Johnson. KEVIN JOHNSON!!!! Let’s give the guy a little bit of a break.

The Close-But-Nos

Players who didn’t make the list:

Karl Malone

The classic “very very very very good but never great” basketball player. Just look at his playoff record sometime before 1997 when all of the other good teams in the Western Conference were gone. Pretty lackluster. He almost makes the list because of his incredible longevity…but to me, you aren’t winning a championship with him as your best player.

David Robinson

Good at basketball, but cared more about being good at life. And that’s cool. I think he’s happy with how it all turned out for him.

Bill Walton

Not enough longevity.

Rick Barry

Maybe the worst teammate of all time. Go ahead and find one complimentary statement made about him from one of his peers. I dare you.

John Stockton

Maybe the most overrated player of all time. Switch him out with Derrick Rose on the Bulls this year. So they win 60 games? 50? 45? Are they a playoff team?

Bob Petit

How good would he be today? Would he even be Tyler Hansbrough? Maybe. We just can’t be sure.

Bob Cousy

He revolutionized the PG position, and we should all be grateful. But see Petit, Bob.

Chris Paul

Probably shouldn’t even be on this list, but I’ve never seen anyone play the point guard position as well, and if his knee isn’t permanently screwed up, he will most definitely crack this list.

Julius Erving

Played too much of his prime in the ABA against players that weren’t allowed to play defense on him because he was too valuable. Only won one ring in the NBA, and he wasn’t his team’s best player.

Elgin Baylor

The hardest guy to leave off this list. Unfortunately, he never won a ring, and may have just played at the wrong time.

John Havlichek

One of the greatest competitors of all time – it’s just hard to project wing players that don’t really shoot into the league right now. Would he be an outstanding defender? Yes. Would he be a team leader? Of course. Maybe he’s Shawn Marion, maybe he’s pre-crazy Ron Artest. I’m not sure.

And now onto the top 20.

The Top 20 NBA Players of All-Tme

#20 Dwyane Wade

We have no idea how Wade’s career will go from this point on. In my opinion, he is the fourth greatest shooting guard of all time behind Jordan, Bryant, and Jerry West. To be honest, his ranking on this list will ultimately come down to longevity.

His 2006 Finals ranks among the greatest performances in history. He is clutch. He’s a great defender. He’s a fantastic finisher at the rim. Even if he only plays for another five seasons, he will have played for 13 years, with 12 of them being quality.

He will have had the skill, the competitive fire, the ring(s), and longevity you want from your shooting guard.

With any luck, he will pass up the Logo and finish as the third greatest SG of all time.

#19 Kevin Garnett

His career will forever be hard to truly evaluate because he was stuck on incredibly awful teams for so long in Minnesota. Regardless, he goes down in history as one of the greatest defenders of all time, one of the best passers for his position, and an awesome teammate.

You could probably make the case that he was better suited to be a second banana as opposed to the main guy. This all comes back to his willingness to settle for jumpers instead of going to the basket late in games.

However, he finishes ahead of Malone because of his championship in 2008, and ahead of Baylor because of his longevity (13 quality years and counting compared to just 10 for Elgin).

#18 LeBron James

I’ll keep this quick.

There has never been a better time to hate on LeBron, and much of what you say could be correct. However, no one on this list has more upside (and really, it’s incredible that we can still say that, 8 years into a guy’s career) and even if he plays just another six years, he will finish with some of the greatest stats of all time (and most likely, at least one ring).

Obviously, if he never wins a ring, things will change. But even so, you will be hard-pressed to find a player that does more things well than King James.

#17 Charles Barkley

I’ll just leave this anecdote from Sir Charles himself, courtesy of the B.S. Report from May 19.

“Until Game 2 of 1993, I thought I was better than Michael Jordan. We lost Game 1 because we were scared of the moment, but I went home after that night and told my daughter that we were going to win Game 2 because her father was the greatest basketball player in the world. I went out that night and scored like 47 points, but Jordan scored 53 and beat us.

“That night, I went home, and my daughter was crying. She asked me what happened, and I realized at that point, that Michael Jordan was just better than me.”

So sad. But sometimes, those are just the breaks. Unfortunately for Charles, he played against one of the greatest players of ever, who also happened to have Scottie Pippen on his team.

Fortunately for us, we had the privilege of watching the greatest rebounder ever (pound for pound), one of the most exciting players in the open court, and #17 on our list of all-time greats.

Full Disclosure: Was this pick perhaps slightly influenced by the fact that Barkley is the greatest color commentator in NBA history? Possibly. I’m ok with that.

#16 Scottie Pippen

I know what most of you are thinking:

“The guy rode Jordan’s coattails for his entire career.”
“He cried on the bench while Toni Kukoc made the winning shot in a playoff game.”
“This guy’s an idiot…he doesn’t even like John Stockton!”

Here’s what I know.

• Michael Jordan didn’t win a single playoff series until Scottie Pippen arrived in Chicago.
• Pippen is the greatest wing defender of all-time (I will argue this to the death…he could defend and shut down four positions, and the Bulls would have lost the 1991 Finals if he hadn’t switched over to guard Magic).
• Until LeBron accomplished it in 2010, Scottie was the only player ever to lead his team in points, rebounds, assists, blocks, and steals for an entire season in 1994.
• Chuck Daly called Pippen the second best player on the Dream Team…behind you know who. By the way, that team included Magic, Bird, Clyde, Malone, Barkley, Robinson, Ewing, and Mullin. Pretty nice compliment if you ask me.
• After the Bulls won the title in 1993 and Jordan left to play baseball, Pippen played out of his mind and the net effect on the team was a swing of two games. Be honest, that stunned you. You would have thought the loss of Jordan would have affected the Bulls a lot more, right?

Michael Jordan was easily the best guard of the 90s, but to be fair, Scottie was pretty easily the second best. Of course, Scottie benefited from Jordan, but you could make just as compelling of a case that Jordan would not be who he was without Scottie.

I’ll just let long-time teammate Ron Harper finish this point for me.

“Everybody talks about MJ first, but Pip had a more all-around game. Defense, offensive rebounds, and defensive boards: Pip made the game easier for all of us to play.”

#15 Dirk Nowitzki

My, how the tables have turned. Dirk has gone from “soft European star” to “America’s favorite golden boy.”

It’s hard to really pinpoint where Dirk deserves to be on this list. But at this point, he deserves to be ahead of Barkley, Malone, Garnett, and all of the other PFs not named Tim Duncan for the following reasons:

• His fadeaway is the second most unstoppable move of all-time (behind the Sky Hook).
• Not many other players have been unstoppable in crunch time as Dirk, and he cemented this for us in the 2011 Playoffs.
• Offensively, he simply has no holes. He’s a willing passer, incredibly unselfish, and not only the best shooting 7-footer of all time, but one of the best five shooters of all time.
• He’s led the Mavericks to the playoffs nearly every year since he’s been there, and deep into the playoffs consistently as well. While battling against Kobe, KG, Duncan, and Shaq (four of the other guys in our top 20), he’s more than held his own. Quite frankly, he’s a winner.

At this point, he’s played for 13 years, and 11 of them have been quality. A player like Dirk could easily play another five to seven years, even if he was just a rich man’s Sam Perkins late in his career. Give me a minimum 13 great years from a 7-footer who just wins any day of the week.

#14  Moses Malone

Even though he couldn’t speak English (Fo-fo-fo), Moses was probably the greatest rebounder of all-time.  Maybe he only did one thing really well, but he did that one thing better than most other players did any one thing.

In a league that had Kareem and Magic, as well as Larry, McHale, and Parish on the same teams in their primes, Moses led his team to a title…convincingly.  He comes in at Fo-teen on our list, and might even wear the title as most underrated player of all-time.

#13  Oscar Robertson

I’m torn on the Big O.  He averaged a triple-double for an entire season.  But how many 6’5, athletic guards would have done the same thing in a league that had the unspoken rule of “only two black players are allowed on each team?”  Would a healthy Brandon Roy have done that?  Would Jordan have averaged 70 points?  What could Vince Carter have accomplished?  Ok…I won’t get carried away.

Robertson makes it to #13 based on reputation, but to be honest, I would have had no problems leaving him off this list entirely.

#12  Isiah Thomas

You probably think Isiah is too high for one of three reasons:  A: You don’t like him as a person (he was probably the most unlikeable star of the 80s);  B: You remember his career after he stopped playing (he was probably the worst GM/Coach of all time); or C: You just forgot about him.

Again, let’s look at some of the things that we do know.

• In 1990, this was the argument: Who is better, Magic, Bird, or Isiah?  To be honest, Michael Jordan wasn’t even in the conversation yet.
• At 6’1” (if he was lucky), Isiah is easily the smallest person on our list, and yet he won two titles in the most competitive era of basketball in NBA history.
• He beat Bird, McHale, Parrish, and Dennis Johnson, as well as Magic, Kareem, and Worthy while they were in their primes.  Michael and Scottie cannot make that claim.
• He goes down as the greatest pure point guard of all time – a guy who could get his entire team involved for 44 minutes, and then take over the last 4.

Sure, he is an unlikeable guy, and he was a terrible GM.  But Isiah Thomas could ball, and that’s what we are drafting for our team: the player, not the retired legend.

#11 Wilt Chamberlain

The hardest guy on this list to place.  He put up the most mind-boggling stats in NBA history, but again, wouldn’t D-Howard, Shaq, Hakeem, Robinson, etc. put up equal stats in a league that was small and white?

In the end, Wilt just doesn’t seem like he was a winner.  He only won two championships, and only one of those came on a team where he was the best player.

#10  Shaquille O’Neal

When he wanted it, he was the most dominant player I have ever seen.  Unfortunately, he only wanted it for like two and a half seasons.  Fortunately for him, he was still good enough to win four titles, even though he wasn’t really giving 100% for two of those teams.

I take him over Wilt because of his four rings, humorous personality, and sweet nicknames.  If he had ever worked for it, he could have been a top 3 player of all time.  I think Shaq is ok with how it all turned out though.  He will have to settle for being #10 and the most likeable superstar of the 00s.

#9 Hakeem Olajuwan

I have four reasons for why Hakeem should be ranked ahead of Wilt and Shaq.

1. “The Dream Shake.”  Nobody has ever been smoother at the center position, and we will probably never see another player like him.
2. He absolutely dismantled all of his rivals in the 90s – Robinson, Ewing, and Baby Shaq.  Shaq couldn’t do that, and Wilt definitely didn’t do that.
3. “Stocks.”  Bill Simmons blew this out in his book, but if you combined steals and blocks into one category called “stocks,” nobody has ever come close to the crazy stats the Dream put up.  Only one player in history has over 5900 stocks, and it’s the Dream at 5992.  Oh, and nobody else has more than 5500…or 5000…or 4500.  Yep, nobody has ever come close to Hakeem’s unbelievable defensive numbers.
4. He played for 18 years, and 14 of them were quality.  His longevity is, simply, unmatched when it comes to franchise centers.

This is getting a little tedious, so let’s just bang out the next few guys with one or two sentences.

#8 Jerry West

The Logo is still the only player in NBA History to be voted the NBA Finals MVP on a losing team.  Dude could ball, and if he was a Celtic instead of a Laker, he would probably be higher on this list.

#7 Tim Duncan

The greatest power forward of all time won as many rings as Shaq, and was a more complete player for the entirety of his career.

#6  Bill Russell

See my previous thoughts on Russell. To be honest, I’m not sure I would really draft him ahead of Tim Duncan for my team in today’s world, but the guy deserves to at least be ranked as high as his number.

#5  Larry Bird

Larry Legend was the most intelligent player in NBA History, as well as one of its fiercest competitors and most clutch finishers.  Plus, he’s from Indiana; he has to be this high.

#4  Magic Johnson

Finishes ahead of Larry because of the number of rings (5 to 3) and his longevity (12 quality years compared to 10).

#3 Michael Jordan

#2 Kobe Bryant

#1 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Please let me give my reasons before you flood my (and my editor’s) inbox with rude comments.

First of all,

Michael Jordan is easily the most universally liked person of the three.  According to most people, Kareem was “some Muslim activist” and Kobe is a “6 for 24 shooting adulterer.”

Personally, I have no idea why Jordan is universally loved more than the other guys.  The guy is addicted to gambling, has had more affairs than any other athlete not named Tiger Woods, and allegedly punched teammates in practice for not trying hard enough.  He gave a nearly hour long, vindictive Hall of Fame speech where he basically admitted that he had respect for nobody, and he even told his son he felt bad for him because he could never live up to his old man.  Michael Jordan is not a good guy by any definition…but everyone loves him anyway.  That’s fine.

Let’s try to put aside personalities for a minute though and really judge these guys as players.

Secondly,

Jordan won all of his titles from 1991 to 1998, the second weakest era in NBA History.

The weakest era coincided with the ABA, when all the good players were split in half, making both leagues weaker. But 1991 to 1998 was almost equally as poor. Don’t believe me? Let me throw this at you.

From 1991 to 1998, Michael Jordan only beat ONE team that had another top 20 player in his prime – the 1993 Phoenix Suns.  Past that, he only beat one other team that had another top 20 player at all…the 1991 Lakers.  When you take into account the fact that Jordan was also playing with Scottie Pippen (maybe he’s not #15 on your list, but you can’t argue that there was another guard as good in the decade), it’s not surprising in the least bit that Jordan won six rings.  Looking back on it now, the Knicks were overrated (Ewing was soft, and who was guarding Jordan…6’2” John Starks?  Please), the Lakers were old, the Blazers, Suns, and Sonics were just not as good, and the Jazz excelled at choking.

So who did Jordan really beat during that time?

Expansion had weakened the NBA to a certain extent.  Magic, Bird, Isiah, Kareem, and Moses were all washed up.  The “too much too soon” era was also in full force, as guys like Glenn Robinson, Chris Webber, Derrick Coleman, and others were given unbelievably bogus contracts that caused them to stop working and waste their potential.  Shaq and Penny were too young and immature.  Payton and Kemp only got along for like one year.  Hakeem didn’t have good enough players outside of ’94-’95.  Jordan only really had to beat three peers: Clyde, Barkley, and Malone.  And none of their second best players even came close to Scottie Pippen.  In fact, none of them really compared to Scottie.

On the other hand, Kobe had to battle against Duncan, Dirk, and KG every single season in his own conference! Meanwhile, Kareem had to beat individual teams that had Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parrish, Bill Walton, Dennis Johnson, and Danny Ainge on them.

Listen, I’m not going to sit here and make comments like, “Jordan never would have won anything unless all the other greats retired and the league wasn’t so weak.”  But the fact is that Jordan never DID win anything until all the other greats retired and the league was weaker.

You can argue that Jordan would have been great in any era, and that he was so competitive he would have won championships against anyone.  The fact is, though, that he didn’t.

Thirdly,

Of the three players, Jordan by far had the shortest reign.

If you take out 1986 (the year he got hurt), ’94 and ’95 (the years he played baseball), and everything after 1998, that leaves us with a total of eleven quality years of basketball for Air Jordan.  Now I will be the first to admit that those eleven years may be better than Kobe’s best eleven years, or Kareem’s best eleven years.  But when it comes to an entire career, those eleven years better be enough better to overcome the longevity of the other two.

I just don’t think that’s true in this scenario.

Kareem played for a startling 20 seasons, and was an All-Star for 15 of those years.  He won six rings, just like Jordan, and in the words of Bill Simmons, nobody in NBA History can approach the next two lines:

Kareem, 1971: 27-19-3, 61% FG, Finals MVP

Kareem, 1985: 26-9-5, 61% FG, Finals MVP

If I’m building a team, I would take 20 years of a 7’3” big man with the most unstoppable scoring move of all time over 11 transcendent years from a SG who never actually beat anyone of note.

Photo source: RHF Collective

As for Kobe, the argument is a little tougher, but I stand by it.

Jordan’s stats are a little better.  While the caliber of athlete he was playing against was laughable compared to Kobe’s era (just imagine how many points Kobe would score if he was guarded by Jeff Hornacek in back-to-back NBA Finals’), Kobe’s era is much more conducive to scoring (just imagine how many points Jordan would score in a league that’s not allowed to hand check), so nobody really had a clear advantage, and Jordan wins the stats argument.

At this point, Kobe’s played for 15 years (just like Jordan), but 14 of them have been quality.  It’s hard to say how many he has left, but at 33, he could easily have anywhere from 2 to 5 more seasons left with 2 or 3 of them being quality.  He’s won one less ring, but he’s had to beat at least one of the guys on this list in every single one of his championship seasons.

It’s an incredibly tough choice.  Do I take the guy with a slightly higher peak, or the guy that gives me greatness for a longer stretch of time?  In the end, I would take Kobe’s career over Jordan’s peak.

Obviously, you would be happy to have any of the guys in the top three.  All three guys lucked out with teammates to a certain extent.  Kareem had Magic – the best teammate of the three – for five of his titles, but he also beat teams that were much more stacked than Kobe and Jordan.  Kobe had Shaq and then Pau for his five rings.  And Jordan had Scottie for all six of his.

However, because Kareem and Kobe had to do it against harder competition, and because their careers were longer than Jordan’s, they finish ahead of Air…even if I’m the only guy who thinks so.

Commence vitriolic anger…NOW!

The comment section awaits.

**********

Seriously, I’d love to hash this out further with anyone that’s interested. If you prefer to express your opinions privately, you’re welcome to e-mail me directly at jwtwitch@gmail.com, though we encourage you to comment publicly so everyone can enjoy the debate.

* – Jim Harbaugh photo source: My350Z.com

* – Scottie Pippen photo source: NBA.com

* – Hakeem Olajuwon photo source: Ultimate Youth Basketball Guide

* – Michael Jordan photo source: Promethean Times

* – Kobe Bryant photo credit: Getty Images via Zimbio

It is apparent from the lack of talent on the Cavs roster that Cleveland will not have a playoff team anytime in the near future.

After the aftermath of “The Decision” it became obvious to the public that LeBron James never had any intentions of returning to Cleveland after the 2009-2010 season.  And because LeBron never alerted the Cavs before the “The Decision” appeared on ESPN that he was “taking his talents to South Beach”, Cleveland wasn’t able to sign any free agents or make any transitions because they still had to save a roster spot and money to pay LeBron if he had decided to return.

Throughout the 2009-2010 season LeBron James did make it clear to everyone that he intended to become a free agent after that season.  But he never said that he wouldn’t return to Cleveland, even though, as mentioned, it seemed like he never planned on doing so. There have been numerous reports that he had been planning on being a member of the Miami Heat, or at least teaming up with Dwyane Wade, for quite some time.

Now let’s say that at the beginning of the 2009-2010 season LeBron announced that he had no intention of signing back with Cleveland after that season, kind of like what Carmelo Anthony did with Denver.  But still he planned on giving his team and his city all he had for his last season to try to bring them a championship.

Lets fast forward to around the ’09-’10 trading deadline: Cleveland has one of the best records in the NBA because they know LeBron will leave after the year and they’re busting their ass every night because they know this is their best chance to win a title.  Also, LeBron is playing hard because he doesn’t want to get the reputation as a guy who quits on his team, and he might as well try to win a title now because he has a pretty good team in Cleveland and he made a promise to the city to try to bring them a title.  The New York Knicks, not wanting to lose LeBron in free agency, offers Cleveland the same deal they offered Denver for Carmelo Anthony (Anthony, Billups, and a bunch of stiffs to New York and Denver got Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, cash, a 2012 second round pick, a 2013 second round pick, and a 2014 first round pick).

In this fictional New York-Cleveland deal Cleveland gives up LeBron and Mo Williams and stiffs X and New York gives up Chandler, Felton, Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, cash, a 2012 second round pick, a 2013 second round pick, and a 2014 first round pick.

I am asking Cavs fans and NBA fans would you accept this trade or would you keep LeBron for the remainder of the season?

Before you choose here are some key points that you have to remember before making your decision.

• You can’t see into the future.  So you can’t trade LeBron just because you know that LeBron will quit in the Boston series or do “The Decision”.

• Remember when LeBron played with Cleveland and people actually liked him.  So you have to use whatever mindset you had on had on LeBron during ’09-’10 season.  What I mean is did you think he was a trustworthy person who would stick buy his promise and give it all he had every game, and you can’t involve any of the dumb shit LeBron has done over the past year to alter your choice.

Another thing you can do before making your decision is think of the pros and cons if Cleveland made the trade.

If Cleveland Makes the Trade

Pros:

• If LeBron says he is going to leave at the end of the year then the Cavs might as well try to get some talent to replace him so they won’t be awful in the future.  Chandler, Felton, Gallinari, and three picks are better than nothing.

• Cleveland would still make the playoffs that season and have enough talent to make the playoffs in the future.

Cons:

• By trading LeBron, Cleveland would lose their best chance of winning a title.  There’s no way that Cleveland would win a title with Felton, Chandler, Gallinari, Hickson, and Varejao as their starting line-up.

If Cleveland would have made this trade with LeBron, they would be have a roster with solid players that would make them a playoff contender, but they would never have enough talent to win a title.  If they keep LeBron then they still have a chance to win the NBA Finals that season but they won’t get anything in return after he leaves.

So what would you do? Would you keep LeBron or would you trade him?

Now, because I am a Cleveland fan and I have suffered many years without a championship team, I would have kept LeBron.  As I mention above Cleveland would lose their best chance of winning a title by trading LeBron.  I understand that after LeBron left Cleveland’s roster would be decimated, but Cleveland would never win a title with the players they would have got in the trade.  Also, I would have a slim hope that if Cleveland won that season LeBron would have resigned.  If you’re that close to winning a title you have to go for it, especially if you’re Cleveland.

What would you do?  Would you keep or trade LeBron?  Feel free to leave a comment below on what you would do.

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.

In no logical order:

Michael Jordan

Any all-time list has to start with Jordan, for better or for worse. It is incredibly hackneyed, yes, but I make my choice having seen Jordan take down two very good Utah Jazz teams, walk away from the NBA for a second time, then make a much hyped and ultimately unfulfilling comeback with the Washington Wizards.

I went to college in DC and I can tell you that Wizards fans still speak in hushed tones about the time they saw Jordan striding through the halls of the then-MCI Center. Even at 70%, Jordan was still the best of all time, and everyone knew it – remember Vince Carter giving up his starting spot on the 2003 All Star squad?

Vince Carter

Speaking of Vince, would any other player have really given up a starting spot on the All Star team for an aging legend? That act seems to encapsulate Carter’s career: he just didn’t care enough to be a winner. He attended UNC graduation the morning of Game 7 of the 2001 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the 76ers and then missed a shot at the buzzer that would have sent the Raptors to the Conference Finals.

We as sports fans love to make assumptions about players character or mental makeup, especially for guys that just don’t seem to care that much. It is maybe the most frustrating ascribed personality trait, since fans care so much about sports that they simply cannot fathom a player not giving 100 percent every time they hit the floor.

But damn it if Vince couldn’t dunk with the best of them.

Allen Iverson

Question: who was the player burning up Vince Carter’s Raptors during the 2001 Eastern Conference Semifinals? Answer: The Answer.

I remember rocking the Reebok I3 sneakers while trying out for my middle school basketball team, trying to cross over just like Iverson. Definitely the coolest NBA player of the last few decades. If you look at Iverson in a vacuum, without the off the court stuff, the tattoos, the “practice?!” incredulity, he may be the best high volume scorer of the last 20 years. He took a lot of shots to get his points, but he was a warrior and played much bigger than his size.

Now he’s trying to come back to the NBA. Please, no one give him a shot. Let us keep the memories, AI.

Chris Webber

This is one of those subjective picks. For whatever reason, I loved Chris Webber. I would stay up late to watch Kings games from the West Coast and always picked the Kings in NBA 2k for Dreamcast. He was such a good passer, such a silky shooter, and such a waste of immense talent. Another career seemingly cut short by injuries and maybe just not caring enough.

Gary Payton

I had a weird thing for Seattle teams as a kid, mostly because I loved Ken Griffey Jr, and I loved the nickname The Glove. Payton was an unstoppable defender and a legendary trash talker – in the same way Michael Jordan always had his tongue out, it seemed Payton’s mouth never closed. Also, those Sonics teams with Payton, Shawn Kemp and Detlef Schrempf were absolutely unstoppable in NBA Jam.

(On a related note, it is incredibly satisfying to see Schrempf cameo on Parks and Recreation every once in a while.)

Tracy McGrady

Vince Carter’s cousin in game and in spirit. McGrady looks like he is sleeping through games because of his droopy eyes, and it can be very infuriating. But he may have had the most unique skill set of anyone on this list – it seemed like he could score from anywhere at any time.

Remember his 13 points in 33 seconds? A legendary scoring binge.

Ray Allen

I debated putting Reggie Miller here, but I hate Reggie Miller and this is my list. T-Mac’s 13 in 33 is the best scoring binge of all time, because 8 in 18 NEVER HAPPENED.  But while Miller is probably the best outside shooter of the last 20 years, Ray Allen is the better all-around player. He has really had quite the career, from superstar to trade bait to a resurgence on the other side of 30 as a contributor for a championship squad.

Kevin Garnett

Maybe the scariest player I’ve ever seen. The opposite of Vince Carter. He would run through a brick wall. Not for anything, just for fun.

Jason Kidd

Hanging on forever, finally earning his first ring, and seemingly always in the right place at the right time. An appallingly bad shooter for most of his career, and yet a guy you would never want to see on the other team.

Tim Duncan

Could you put together a YouTube video of Duncan highlights that won’t put you to sleep? Probably, but I will mostly remember Duncan for being great and awful to watch and bugging his eyes out at every chance.

Shaquille O’Neal

I have written about Shaq before but it bears repeating that he could have won the MVP every single season during his prime and it still would not have been enough.

Kobe Bryant

Oddly enough, the closest thing we will ever get to Michael Jordan in the immediate future. He is constantly evolving and adapting his game from a high flyer as a kid (below) to a beefed up slasher to a deadly shooter. And probably the undisputed king of the twisting, spinning circus shot.

Dwyane Wade

Unless it’s this guy.

LeBron James

I really, truly hope he comes back next season with a vengeance. He’s entering that Shaq phase of his prime in that he probably deserved the MVP award this year, and will probably deserve it every year for a while. Ultimately will be judged by championships. Most hated, but also the top selling jersey in the NBA. Hmmm…

Dirk Nowitzki

His game is like a trapeze act – your heart drops every time he spins and launches a high arcing shot, and you think there is no way he can land it. And almost every time, like clockwork, bottom of the bucket.

Steve Nash

Dirk’s former running mate and probably the most fun player in the NBA. He just seems like a cool guy, right? With the hair flopping and the shots that always fall, a real treasure. I really hope the Knicks don’t trade for him and his creaky back.

Chris Paul

However, I DO hope the Knicks get him and his balky knees.

Amar’e Stoudemire

Speaking of balky knees. A veritable Six-Million Dollar man and a marvel of medical science. The fact that this guy can still dunk like a beast makes absolutely no sense, and makes me want to transport his surgeon back 10 years to save Chris Webber’s career too.

Carmelo Anthony

I am so excited for the 2011 Knicks, in case you haven’t figured that out yet.

Kevin Durant

I don’t really know what will happen with Durant. It seemed like he poised for a transcendent season, and basically hit a plateau at very very very good. But besides the crazy beautiful shooting stroke, he can dunk like very few others.

Blake Griffin

Finally, the one guy who can absolutely shut down the internet like a Blake Lively sexting mishap. There are basically two schools of thought on Blake Griffin:

1. HOLY CRAP!!!
2. What if he develops a jump shot HOLY CRAP!!!

There have been a lot of incredible players in NBA history, but guys like Griffin and Derrick Rose and Deron Williams and Stephon Curry and Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook around, there is a talent glut like never before in my lifetime.

Until the lockout ruins it all.

Many were calling the Mavericks the “Mavaliers”, with Dirk being the favorite player of many Cavs fans. However, it did not matter that the Mavericks won the title; it was all about the failure of LeBron James.

In all truth, the average Cleveland fan does not really care about the Mavericks. Throughout the course of the playoffs, they were fans of Philly, Boston, Chicago, and then finally Dallas. There are those who are fans of the game and wanted Dirk, Jason Terry, and Jason Kidd to win a title, but the majority just wanted LeBron to fail.

The Heat’s loss in the Finals is a victory for a fan of every team besides the Heat. Well, the Heat don’t actually have fans, as shown by the stands emptying before the conclusion of Sunday’s game. It seems like more people showed up for the little party thrown when LeBron and Bosh arrived in Miami, where it was declared that the Heat would possibly win seven titles.

But enough Heat “fan” bashing…suffice it to say, true fans of the NBA wanted the Heat to lose. A win by the Heat would have been a victory for the villain. It would proven right everything that is currently wrong with sports: stars teaming up with other stars to win. They did not succeed, but they were pretty close.

The difference in Cleveland was that it was not as much about the Heat’s failure as it was about LeBron’s failure. Cavs fans felt great when ESPN spent hours talking about how he couldn’t handle the pressure. After last year’s Game 5 against the Celtics, where he seemingly gave up, it seemed like deja vu for Cavs fans, only this time it was amusing. Every time he missed a shot, Cavs fans let out a cheer. I thought that if Dan Gilbert opened the Cavs arena for a Finals watch party, it would have been a packed house. That is how many people truly care about LeBron James failing in his pursuit of a title outside of Cleveland.

The hate for LeBron seems like it will be eternal in Cleveland, not only because of the infamous Decision, but because of his terrible statements that he makes to reporters. His recent comment on how people who want him to fail still have their personal problems just makes people want him to fail more. He is unknowingly making people hate him more. He has put his foot in his mouth numerous times and needs to stop. This could require not speaking in public, or even hiring someone to speak his thoughts for him.

The Big Three is under contract in Miami for five more seasons, which means at least five more years of Cleveland rooting for anyone who is against Miami in the playoffs. Cavs fans will quickly become Kobe’s biggest fans if it means LeBron not winning a title. For this summer, all Cleveland has to say is Alle hagel Dirk!

“LeBron James Will Be Fine Once He Embraces His Role as The Villain” — BSO

Excerpt:

If he didn’t understand before, he understand now he is the VILLAIN.

There is two ways to handle that: he can embrace it or he can run from it, like he ran from all the 4th quarters of the NBA Finals.  Lebron is 26 years old. and even though he has been in the league for eight years, I don’t think he has even hit is “prime”.

The Heat will be competing for titles for the upcoming years, but if this year taught us anything it is that they aren’t going to be given anything— and no one is afraid of them.

To quote Tyrese (and don’t ask me why), there are a lot of players and teams who are “HONGRY” and want to eat. The meal will be especially sweet if they take Lebron’s cornbread in the process of their Sunday dinner.

There is no way the Jason Terrys & DeShawn Stevensons of the world should be eating off Lebron’s plate and leaving him to wash the dishes.

Kobe wouldn’t allow his legacy to just be the guy who won titles with Shaq— will Lebron allow his legacy to be of the best player on the planet who shrinks in the biggest moments?

Kevin Durant invoked God after each of the Thunder’s Playoff wins. And I vividly recall Kurt Warner, after the Rams won Super Bowl XXXIV, taking the microphone and yelling, “Thank you, Jesus!” As a fan of the Tennessee Titans, who were one yard short of sending that game into overtime, I was upset that my Lord and Savior had been helping the opposing team.

This week, LeBron James did something that athletes rarely do: He invoked God’s will to explain a loss.

King James (as LeBron refers to himself in his text messages) tweeted following the Heat’s game 6 loss, “The Greater Man upstairs know when it’s my time. Right now isn’t the time.” Apparently the hand of God was responsible for LeBron passing up wide open looks, refusing to drive to the basket, and zoning out in the fourth quarter.

Perhaps I’m being too harsh.

Christianity is a faith founded on sacrifice and suffering. Despite the strange theological implications of LeBron’s tweet, I appreciate that he is aware of God’s presence even in bad times. (Granted, “bad times” for LeBron aren’t really that bad, especially when compared to, say, “bad times” for a child soldier in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.) On the other hand, I wonder what God’s plan is for LeBron’s long-time teammate, poor Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who will likely retire now without a ring on his finger. (And, earlier this year, LeBron attributed the Cavs’ misfortune to God, and karma. I’m not sure where that fits into his theology.)

Following Auburn’s win in the BCS Championship Game, Gene Chizik said to ESPN reporter Tom Rinaldi, “Man, God was with us.” ESPN’s Tim Keown took issue with this. For Keown, “God was with us” was much more than an impulsive comment made in passing after an emotional win. In his column, Keown held Chizik accountable for what he said and how he said it:

How nice of God, really, to look down upon the Auburn coach and his many noble athletes and bestow upon them the BCS championship. And how sad for Chip Kelly and Oregon, forced to walk off the field at the stadium sponsored by the University of Phoenix (for profit, no religious affiliation) knowing they were thwarted not only by their own reckless decisions but by God, as well.

Later in the same column, Keown made a helpful distinction:

[We're] fine with athletes such as Tim Tebow who show the attendant humility to back up the idea that there’s something authentic behind the words. . . .

There is a distinction, though. It’s one thing to use the vast public forum to thank God for your success and give him the glory of the moment, but it’s quite another to attribute the outcome of the game to some divine decision that dictated a last-second win. . . . The difference between gratitude and attribution is not negligible; one displays humility, the other hubris. It seems like a basic tenet of Christianity to give glory to God, quite another to pronounce that God was giving glory to you.

We should keep in mind that sports figures make these God comments when emotions are high and rational thought is low. Few if any athletes intend to make a profound theological statement when they attribute a win, or loss, to a higher power. Still those players and coaches who often find themselves talking to Erin Andrews or Holly Rowe after a big game would do well to consider the difference between gratitude and attribution.

It is one thing to thank God for the blessings of unique gifts and talents, strength, courage, and perseverance; it’s quite another to imply that God wanted your team to hoist that trophy or that God would rather you wait another year or two before winning that first elusive championship.

I’m certain that God loves LeBron, even if many American sports fans don’t. I’m also pretty sure that God—who has plenty of things going on in Côte D’Ivoire, Burma, Sudan, and Syria—isn’t too concerned about whether LeBron wins a title this year, next year, or in 2016. God has blessed LeBron James with extraordinary talents (talents that LBJ has since taken to South Beach). And LeBron, for his part and to his credit, has developed those talents and used them to put together a Hall of Fame career. But the question of whether or not these considerable talents will take him to the next level will have to be answered by LeBron, not God.

**********

Josh Tinley is the author of Kneeling in the End Zone: Spiritual Lessons From the World of Sports (which makes a great Fathers’ Day gift, by the way). Follow him at twitter.com/joshtinley or send him an e-mail.

Image source: ImageShack via Reddit

Fact: Brian Cardinal’s +/- in Game 6 was +18. LeBron’s was -24. And it wasn’t fluky. Cardinal did more to help his team win than LeBron did, and the Mavs won.

Pretty much sums it up, huh?

I will also take this opportunity to momentarily put aside my Purdue hate and congratulate Brian Cardinal. Even when he was wearing the black and gold, I always secretly admired his heart, winning attitude, and underrated skill level. I hated him, of course, but always respected him. Now that he’s no longer wearing those god awful colors, it’s a little bit easier to appreciate his game. His grit, toughness, and poise in the clutch epitomized these Dallas Mavericks, and it’s the reason why I’m so happy they won.

Congrats to Brian Cardinal, the anti-LeBron.

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.

This lovely photoshop work was originally posted at RealGM.com:

Image source: Here via Reddit

This comment made me laugh: