Best players Currently in the NBA

Only thing I might disagree with is your inclusion of Duncan. I think he's past his prime. Also, I don't think this season's decision was as terrible as you say it is, at least not to the point where I would exclude Steve Nash from the top 5. Also, there are different roles that different players play so it's kind of hard to say. And to me, the best player will always be Jason Kidd

1. Lebron James
2. Yao Ming (assuming he is 100%
3. Dwayne Wade
4. Nowitzki
5. Bryant (with AI a close 6)

If we are talking raw talent, this is my list...

1) LeBron
2) D. Wade
3) Kobe
4) K. Garnett
5) Dirk

If we are talking raw talent plus making your teammates better, this is my list

1) D. Wade
2) Nash
3) Shaq
4) Kidd
5) B. Wallace

Kobe
Wade
James
Dirk


I don't see how you can put Wade and especially Lebron above Kobe. He may not be a good teammate but he as all the athleticism of the other two, a better killer instinct, MUCH better defense, and better FT shooting.

Shaq is still the MOST dominant player in the NBA. If he stays in shape, he will be next year too. Duncan is one of the only elite players to ever give him fits.

Shaq's biggest weakness is that he sometimes loses focus, but when he decides to play, only the ref's* can stop him.

Look for Kobe's career to be all but over soon. He just had knee surgery. Remember Penny Hardaway?

And no t-mac?

1. Shaq
2. Wade
3. t-mac
4. King James
5. Rashweed Wallace (no one is able to match up against him consistently)
6. Duncan
7. Brevin Knight

*or Kobe bryant not passing him the ball.

Lebron and Wade make their teams better, Kobe makes his team worse IMO. How many championships would the Lakers have if Kobe hadn't constantly been bitching at Shaq and driving his teammates to retirement?

Like aportnoy, I have two lists.

Pure talent:
1) Kobe Bryant
2) LeBron James
3) Dwyane Wade
4) Kevin Garnett
5) Dirk Nowitzki

Players I would draft if I was starting a team:
1) Dwyane Wade
2) LeBron James
3) Dwight Howard
4) Chris Paul
5) Elton Brand

Okay: Yao Ming? Uh, no. He looked better this season, but he's still a softy. Once he convinces me that he can throw the occasional elbow and not be intimidated into submission by, like, every other player in the league, then we can start talking. That said, he really DID look a lot better this season. He has potential.

I think Kobe deserves to be at the bottom of the list after that game 7 performance against the Suns. He's probably the single most genetically gifted player in the league STILL, even including LeBron and DWade, but when it comes to actual performance, he can't hack it. He's his own worst enemy. I would love love love to put AI in his place, since he's been my favorite player in the league (on the court) for a long time, but in all honesty, you know who I think belongs there? Gilbert Arenas. Everyone's forgetting about him because LeBron upstaged him in the playoffs and pulled that Jedi mind trick on him with those free throws, but look at his stats during that series. He was going blow for blow with LBJ (who has GOT to be #1 or #2 right now, depending on how you rank him against DWade) for the entire series.

Dirk looked incredible until the Finals, and then suddenly started to disappear, except for brief flashes. I still don't know what happened there. After the way he took it up a notch in the playoffs, though, I can't keep him off the list. He belongs in the top 5 for sure.

Nash doesn't quite make it, for me. He's great, and he's the best pure point guard in the league, but he's not good enough on defense. Part of why he looks so good on the Suns is that the team is built in a manner that puts him in the best light possible--that team is predicated on a guard with Nash's skills, and doesn't ask him to do things that he can't do. He's in the top 10, but probably not the top 5.

Shaq is too old; it's over for him. He's not nearly as dominant as he was, except in occasional flashes, and he doesn't seem to be able to turn it on as easily as he used to.

LeBron, DWade, Nowitzki, Arenas, Kobe. AI #6.

*I'm not 100% sure on my Arenas pick, but I have to find one dark horse, right? Otherwise what's the fun? Plus, he was really, REALLY good in the Cleveland series.

I think the Game 7 thing was sheer childish petulance. He was pissed at his teammates, and he was tired of shouldering the load entirely on his own, and he was sick of the damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't he was getting in the media. I understood it, to some degree; I remember all the criticism of him in Games 5 and 6, saying he was shooting way too much, he was hogging the ball, etc, when it was clear to anyone who was actually watching that game that the *only* person on the floor capable of scoring at the time was Kobe; and then when he was giving it up and his teammates weren't scoring, he was "unwilling to take charge when he needs to" and such. The problem was that he took all that out with him onto the court and then let every Lakers fan down in a big way by spending the last half of Game 7 giving the media and the critics the finger instead of doing whatever he had to to give the Lakers their last sliver of a chance to win. Understandable, I guess, but incredibly disappointing.

In terms of sheer talent, though, like I said, I think he should go above DWade and LeBron (at least at this point in their careers--three years from now, who knows).

Arenas probably doesn't belong there, but I was trying to spur a little debate.

Personally, I thought Amare Stoudemire was on track to be a monster two seasons ago. I will be really interested to see how he bounces back this season.

Weren't the Suns playing better while Amare was out? I remember I was in attendance at either his first or second game back when the Suns played the Nets and the Suns got killed by like 35 points (and the Nets held Nash to 0 points ).

Anyway, I still can't believe that Nash is getting no love whatsoever. Maybe he didn't finish the season that well, but neither did a lot of other guys that are on everyone's lists.