Had either Shaq, Duncan, or Kobe play in it. 16 of 16 if you add Lebron. Are those the 4 best players of the last 16 years?
Taking like 5 seconds to think about it, yeah. I thought Dirk would be up there, but not better than either of those 4.
Or, you can reduce down to Kobe, Duncan, and D-Wade in 16 of 16. Of course, all three needed help to get their combined 13 rings.
Yes those are certain 1st Team "Past-16" players. Then its the next tier of players including Kevin Garnett, Kevin Durant, Dirk, Steve Nash, Chris Paul, Allen Iverson, Dwight Howard, Dwyane Wade. None of those names can definitely take out Shaq, Lebron, Kobe and Duncan from the top player list, so I'd say the mentioned players are accurate enough.
its in between Duncan and Leonard. Both performed great i'm not sure which one to choose, maybe Duncan for his leadership.
Duncan is their one irreplaceable player. As great as the other players are, they became better because they joined the Spurs. Duncan built the Spurs.
Since 1980, every NBA finals had either Tim Duncan, Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Isaiah Thomas, Magic Johnson, or Larry Bird in it. 35 years covered by just 8 players.
If you were the best player on "your" team that went to the finals more than once, and you won a championship, your name belongs on the list. I would take out Dwyane Wade and add the following: Kareem Abdul Jabbar (85, 87, 88) Clyde Drexler (90, 92, 95) Shaquille O'neal (95, 00, 01, 02, 06) Dirk Nowitzki (06, 11) Kevin Garnett (08, 10) Julius Erving (80, 83) Moses Malone (81, 83) Honorable Mention: Charles Barkley (93) John Stockton (97, 98) Karl Malone (97, 98) Dwyane Wade (Was not best player his team - Shaq and Lebron were)
Wow! D wade put on probably the most impressive performance ever in finals history. This makes the rest of your post hard to take seriously.
