1. James 2. Howard and these 2 will win their position 80 times out of 82 a year and usually by a long way, and are a distance ahead of the rest. 3. Durant 4. Griffin 5. Williams 6. Paul 7. Rose 8. Wade 9. Melo 10. Stoudemire
there are only about 10\ franchise players in the nab Kobe Bryant Kevin Durant Lebron James Dwyane Wade Dwight Howard Dirk Nowitzki Deron Williams Chris Paul Rajon Rondo Carmelo Anthony I would still consider Duncan pretty close here Derrick Rose could get there some day
To start a franchise for the future: 1. LeBron 2. Dwight Howard - Building around a big man especially one who can play defense works wonders. 3. Kevin Durant 4. Blake Griffin - Again, big guys are a must. 5. Deron Williams - Gets the nod over CP3 because of Paul's knee. 6. Chris Paul 7. Carmelo Anthony 8. Rose/Westbrook/Rondo - Depends on the makeup of your team and your needs. 11. Pau Gasol - Would be higher, maybe #5, but he is 30 years old... 12. Dwayne Wade - Would be higher but he has an injury history plus he is 29 years old. Not a spring chicken. 13. Amare 14. John Wall -Like Griffin, this is hoping their careers turn out well and not flame out. 15. Dirk/Kobe - This is not to say the are equal but both are 32 years old. Kobe has tons of mileage but is still deadly from time to time. Dirk has aged gracefully line a fine wine but still, the question is to start a franchise from this point on. It would be hard to start a franchise with your main guy already 32. 17. Kevin Love - Like a lot of guys he plays poor D. He isn't as athletic as others but he makes it work. Like I said in the Kobe/Dirk entry, if the question were "Pick someone to win a championship right now this instant" the list would change, but this is for the future, so it holds back older players. Then there is the thought process of building around a dominant big guy which tends to be a better gamble than building around a point guard.
I meant to say "This is not to say they are equal in talent... Like the PG trifecta, the pick depends on the makeup of the team, system and needs moving from this point forward.
And no way would teams take Tyreke Evans over Deron Williams and Chris Paul but you have him on your list.
Anyone not putting Lebron as #1 is being ridiculous. You can put KD at #1 when he takes a group of garbage into the Finals
give me lebron, howard, and griffin and i'm good. lebron and howard are the only players in today's league that is dominant on both ends really. and griffin is the next lebron james for the PF position that can change a franchise. the rest are far behind.
I understand how much of an athlete Howard is but, I would not have him in my top five. You need a guy who can FINISH or has potential to finish a game as a franchise player. Sure he can have a game winning stop, but you need a player who is two-way to be a franchise player. DO not tell me his PPG average to justify his "underrated ability to score." He is a really wonderful defender - possibly number one defender - but really who does he need to stop late in a game? All of the guys who have the ball in the last 2 minutes of the game are guards or forwards with exception to very few. If you pick someone who has a harder time finishing a game you need affect the game much greater than Dwight does. I would say a great example is LeBron. LeBron needs a finisher on his team though. I think Cleveland should have picked up a S. Jackson or Jason Terry type of player instead of Mo or Jamison. My list: 1.) LeBron 2.) Blake Griffin 3.) D. Rose 4.) Durant 5.) Wade 6.) Melo 7.) J. Wall 8.) D. Howard 9.) Westbrook (yes over Williams. 4 years younger and to me could be something great). 10.) CP3 / D. Williams (I would play an intense game of coin toss with myself to see which one I pick of the two. Winner gets the 10th pick)
I'll take Dwight Howard with Hakeem as our director for player development and mentor plus Mark Price as the FT coach. :grin:
