He said it in the TNT telecast today. There are only 4 superstars in today's league, and they are: Kobe Bryant LeBron James Carmelo Anthony Dwyane Wade Am I crazy, or does one of those guys clearly not belong?
Is it....Carmelo? or is it Wade? JMO but I wouldn't put CA15 up there with those other guys. I guess that puts Anthony in with the likes of Roy, Durant, etc. Sounds about right.
I agree that there are really only about 5, maybe 1 or 2 more superstars in the league. I think Carmelo is close to qualifying.
Statwise, Melo deserves to be up there but I understand your hesitation. I think of them more as the big 3+2, with Melo and Dirk being the 2.
Wing players, which are the 3's and the 2's, are in a greater position to dominate today's game since they are what baseball pundits call the 5-tool player. Shooting, passing, rebounding, defending, ballhandling can be suggested as the basketball 5 tool skills but I don't think there is an official term for it in basketball. Carmelo is a notch below those other guys just because his D is lower then the others IMO.
Without Shaq & Gasol, Kobe couldn't lead the lakers to pass the 1st round. Without Shaq, Wade couldn't lead the heat to pass the 1st round. Without Billups, Anthony couldn't lead the nuggets to pass the 1st round. The only superstar is James. He lead his team to the finals.
What has Carmelo Anthony done to separate himself from Brandon Roy, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, or Deron Williams? I don't see how he is clearly in a class above them, but increasingly the media seems to portray it that way. Especially on TNT.
Gasol was another piece of talent needed to surround Kobe. He is not the reason. It's the same Gasol who had never even won a playoff game before coming to Laers. Wade took his team to second round his rookie year, if I am not mistaken. They did not have Shaq back then. This I agree with, and not just the first round argument. Without Billups, Anthony AND Nuggets lacked a sense of direction. He did not make his teammates better and is not the leader in the same class as other guys. His overall game and ability to make an impact is also lacking when compared to other guys. I would take Brandon Roy over Anthony.
very tired of hearing the "without" arguments... without kobe or wade shaq couldnt win a championship... not even with the phenom penny hardaway ... takes a team thats better than the other teams they play in the playoffs kobe and wade are great players, but it takes more than a great player to win a championship, more than a player that can take over a game, which kobe, wade and lebron can all do, means nothing if the other team scores every trip up the court the other way down it takes 4 other players doing there job to be exact without 4 other players no1 would ever win a championship lebron took his team to the finals and didnt win, so i dont really get your argument and im a big lebron fan ... but im also a big kobe fan, and its about winning the ring, i think with shaq and the squad he has now they got a shot, but it takes a team
maybe Dwight Howard should be there, but I dont know considering this season play. he is not good as he was last year.
People are going to be very hesitant in putting Dirk in that list after awarding him the MVP and then watching him get destroyed in the first round by #8 seeded team despite his team achieving one of the best regular season records ever. Dirk will need some spectacular playoff performances to erase those memories.
ya beat me to it zboy and that last one just reinforces the team thing no dwight tho? 33 and 16, same record as the nuggets and no dwight? i pick dwight b4 paul or roy even with said play this season he changes the way teams play a lot
I posted this in another thread a week or so ago. Its this year's leaders in PER, with adjusted +/- ratings for this season and for the prior 3 years. Note that the players that were in the 96th percentile or higher in this list for APM_last3years (LeBron, Duncan, Wade, Paul, Nash, Bryant, Nowitzki) all are rating very well this year as well. Those are the players I'd say make the biggest difference for their teams. That's the group from which I'd pick my superstars. 2009-2010 Top PER Players (min. 1000 minutes) Code: [B]Rk Player PER APM APM_last3years[/B] 1 LeBron James 31.1 +24.42 99% 2 Tim Duncan 27.8 +11.82 99% 3 Dwyane Wade 26.8 +25.73 96% 4 Chris Bosh 26.3 +5.76 94% 5 Chris Paul 26.0 +15.9 97% 6 Carmelo Anthony 25.0 -1.57 72% 7 Kevin Durant 24.4 +13.78 4% 8 Steve Nash 23.8 +10.96 99% 9 Kobe Bryant 23.4 +12.74 99% 10 Dirk Nowitzki 23.3 +16.94 98% [I][SIZE=1]APM - adjusted +/- ratings so far this season (computed by basketballvalue.com) APM_last3years - percentile ranking of adjusted +/- rankings over previous 3 years (computed by hoopnumbers.com)[/SIZE][/I]
Dirk led his team to the NBA Finals with some stellar performances in the playoffs. Melo and CP3 haven't done that. At the same time, the GS series will be something I will never forget. That was awesome.
This further proof how the league has deteriorated by putting all its eggs in one basket. The Kobe/Lebron hype machine should be proud of a league with only handful of superstars. Now what comes next? Kobe declines in a few years, get replaced by Durant perhaps at the top to join the posterboy Lebron. The big men are on the decline, Shaq is near retirement, Duncan and KG are going downhill. Of the few left in their prime, Yao is in street clothes, Amare has bad vision (plus zero defense) and Howard has no post up game. The young fresh blood is cursed, Oden and Griffin see ya in 2011! So the state of basketball is pathetic. Of the last 5 drafts only two players have superstar potential, Durant and Rose. 3 of the 4 superstars named by Miller, were all drafted in 2003. One decade worth of drafts and we have: 1 basketball God - Lebron ( source: ESPN, David Stern) 1 legit superstar - Wade 1 injured but legit - Yao 1 boderline SS - Melo 2 great stars - Paul and Howard 2 potential SS - Durant and Rose Terrible decade if you ask me. I've seen single drafts with more superstars than this entire decade.
