ESPN has been counting down who is, in their opinion, the very best of the NBA. Here lies the basis for this edition of the Blog's Sixth Man recurring segment.
1. Lebron James at #1. Too high, too low, or just right?
I'm going Goldielocks on this one. Look, LBJ might be the most controversial human being to ever play professional sports. But it doesn't mean he isn't the absolute best guy around, the number one guy you'd want to pick up if you were building a team. The guy is a freak- so much so that you can't even really do a sports science take on him because EVERYTHING about him defies scientific explanation (really? THAT is a small forward? yeah, okay.) Even with his strange inability to set his alarm clock for playoff games that really matter, he's still consistently the best player in the NBA on both sides of the ball. He's an offensive juggernaut, a defensive stalwart, and just forget about it on fast breaks. Don't tell me he doesn't have any rings. Frankly, I don't think that matters when you're talking about better players- only better player legacies.
And besides, who could you POSSIBLY put above him?
2. Dwight Howard at #2. Too high, too low, or just right?
Too high. Dwight Howard is an amazing defender, far and away the best center in the league. His physical tools alone place him in the top ten players. But what he lacks in his offensive game really hurts him sometimes. When you're alleged to be the second best player in the land, you can't be woefully one dimensional at times. Great player to build a franchise around, but the second best player.
3. Dwayne Wade at #3. Too high, too low, or just right?
I think that's right. Wade is an amazing player, but I've always admired his intangibles even more than his skills. Something about his personality just draws me as a fan in, so imagine what he's gotta do to the guys in the locker room that are playing on the same court as him. His leadership, his shooting, and his abillity to have an innate knowledge of just when he needs to take over a game put in him squarely in the top 5. Plus he just feels like a 3.
4. Chris Paul at #4. Too high, too low, or just right?
You know, I'm kind of going against the grain on this one, but I kind of like CP3 in this spot. Everyone else seemed to knock him down to more of a 6-8 kind of guy, but I think he deserves some wiggle room because of the knee. After all, aren't we measuring him as a player and not as a mortal? When he isn't physically limited, Chris Paul's play is nothing short of inspired. He can be Steve Nash/Rajon Rondo and rack up more assists than I have earned years of life on Earth, then turn around the next game and score 30 points. Look at the playoff series against the Lakers. New Orleans lost, but that's a prime example of CP3 in top form. And it was just downright scary.
5. Dirk Nowitzki at #5. Too high, too low, or just right?
Hey, ESPN. I realize TNT had the rights to most of the playoffs, so I gotta ask... did you guys even bother watching the NBA playoffs? News flash, Dirk is kind of good. Like... really good. And now he even has a ring to go with his, well, goodness.
Look, this is too low. I would have Dirk at number #2. How many dudes that big can shoot the three ball like he can? The answer to that riddle is nobody, besides Dirk Nowitzski. He's one of the most balanced players in the NBA, but it's more than that. He's a hard worker, the kind of guy that players with quiet fire. He toiled away on the Mavs for years to win a championship. He didn't ask to be traded. He didn't ask for other superstars to be mashed and grafted onto his half of the hardcourt. He's an old-fashioned, old-world player who knows what it takes to win and has all the right moves to get it done. It's a shame he doesn't have more rings.
And this ranking has nothing to do with the fact that he just won the NBA title. Dirk was one of the first players I ever knew about when I was just finding things out about the NBA. I played my first year of fantasy basketball with some governors school friends in ninth grade. I drafted Dirk because I thought his last name was cool. He rewarded me by constantly putting up numbers that were astronomical, though I really had no idea that they were at the time. He's really, really, really good. If it's even possible, he's actually a little undervalued, despite being head and shoulders above the rest of the team that just won the NBA finals. And that's why a ranking of fifth best is kind of rediculous.
Got a response? @ckiddysports, hash tag NBARank.
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