Top 5 players in the league entering the 2009/2010 season

the cavs were NEVER a running team. they're a halfcourt team through and through. and how will lebron's stats go down? he'll control the ball every damn time again. he might get less points b/c shaq is there, but his assists will go up like crazy. i think something along the lines of 27points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists

 

and why not

2011-2012

#1 dwayne wade (mvp, lose in semifinals against magic.)
#2 brandon roy (is going to lose in 2nd round against nuggets, but will come up runner up in 2010 as mvp)
#3 kobe bryant (will win one more ring, and will play nba finals against magic. again.)
#4 devin harris (best year so far)
#5 chris paul (is going to lose in 1st round (to chris bosh n yao) after double double season.)

lebron is gonna fall off. hes going to fail again in 2010 and will go to ny or nj.
he wont be as good, hes going to start getting pissed and well yes ballhugger i the making.

and dwight howard will be able to develop a bit more offensive game and will be a double double machine with 20-14 average.

 

The bias on this board is amazing. If it was any other player, he would be called a loser, but since its durant, its different. Until Durant gets his team to .500, he's not even in the conversation. By most posters definition, he's a chucker and a loser.

 

I don't know anything about Durant's work ethic or preparation, and I've only watched him play a handful of games. But I respect your opinion pretty much more than anyone else's on this board, so I'll take your word for it that he'll be a great player one day. To me, though, there's one thing that every truly great player needs to be able to do, and that's get his team to outscore the other team consistently. The individual numbers suggest Durant made great strides last season, but the paltry 23 wins don't impress. I'd give him a little more credit if his +/- numbers (adjusted/unadjusted ... however you want to examine it) weren't so poor. OKC needs to take a significant step forward as a team for me to even consider Durant as a top 5 player.

If I had to predict who I'd be putting in the top 5 at the end of next season, I'd feel pretty safe sticking with the same group of 5 I chose (LeBron, Kobe, Wade, Paul, Duncan). Number 6, and the guy with the best shot of unseating one of those 5, is Brandon Roy for me.

 

I wouldn't call him a loser, but he's not a top 5 or top 10 guy. Statistically and winning wise he's in the same class as Danny Granger and Rudy Gay, but people think he's much better than those two players. It's not just homerism on this board either, people around the league think of Durant very highly, we'll see if they're right.

 

Kobe
LeBron
Wade
Paul
Duncan

 

Kevin Durant is basically Orlando T-Mac.

My top 4, in no real order since they're all amazing has to be

Kobe
LeBron
Wade
Dwight

I think these 4 are a cut above the rest. For the 5th spot, it's hard to choose between Duncan, Parker, Deron Williams, Chris Paul, Dirk, Brandon Roy

 

I understand your point about wins. I sure hope Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook bring more consistency game-to-game. Even I will get tired of watching KD this upcoming season if the Thunder keep losing so much.

 

All Im saying is people on this board or in thread use personal feelings when judging players. I like durant and his skill set, but he's no different than gay,randolph,sar and guys like that. Is it his fault? Probably not, but look at a guy like even carmello that took a 17 win team to a 43 win team in one season. Roy got the blazers to .500 in his 2nd season. So the playing field or criteria has to be equal.

Back in the day when francis was the best player on the team, I used to argue davis,miller,and bibby were just as good if not better. Because the rox had more success as a team, people on this board used to call them losers. Well, those guys got on better teams and then they were praised for being top end talent. They were good players on poor teams. Btw, those same people think its easier to score or produce on poor teams which is false. Its hard to be efficient when you're the focus every night by the opposing teams. Ask gasol if its easier now or when he was in memphis.

 

dude its like this: (and no joking)

1lebron
2wade
3tracy mcgrady
4kobe
5carmelo anthony

next 11
6yao ming
7dwight howard
8kevin durant
9duncan
10kevin garnett
11kwame brown
12tony parker
13dirk nowitski
14ron artest
15chris paul
16smush parker

 

1. kobe
2.lebron
3. d wade
4. cp3
5. melo

cant really put dwight here since yao eats him up every time they play.

 

So, by ur reasoning, everyone who kills yao is ahead of him? So d. williams should be ahead of paul because williams kills him.

 

People around the league think Durant is better than Gay and Granger because of their respective ages, Durant is really young and his body isn't all developed yet. Age matters in the league.

I agree with the comparison to Carmelo, they are about the same age and have similar strengths. Carmelo was never regarded as top 5, most people forgot about him since he was in the same class as LBJ and Wade, his attitude didn't help things either.

 

The thing with Howard is that it's not just Yao. Kendrick Perkins was matching him during the Boston series, Gasol outplayed him in the finals, you know Duncan would outplay him if they went head to head, Shaq will match him. You can't be a top 5 guy and struggle against so many people.

 

lol
1-LBJ
2-DWADE
3-Kobe
4-cp3
5-durant

 

a better version of this thread would be, the top 5 player in each position the league entering 09/10.

 

1. Lebron James
2. Kobe Bryant
3. Dwyane Wade
4. Dwight Howard
5. Chris Paul


These will be the top 5 players for at least the next 5 years. (except for Kobe Bryant slowly dropping off the list.)

 

Congrats to this guy for getting it right. KG is still dominant. Timmy is a little old

Except I'd take James Kobe and Wade.

 

My bad. actually it should be like this:

1. Lebron
2. Wade
3. Olajuwon with a cane
4. Kobe
5. Paul

 

Some of the best players (Wade, James, Kobe, Duncan) can play at an elite level at multiple positions. Why pigeonhole them?