Who can dig out last year's list? I think both Tmac and Yao are down because of all the up-and-coming young superstars. BTW, SF3 is now 30th. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7094510/ 1. Shaquille O'Neal, Miami Heat The indomitable one impacts the flow of the game more than anyone, and has made this team title contenders. 2. Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs The most fundamentally sound big man since Bill Walton. He could meet Shaq in the Finals. 3. LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers Astonishingly, he has proven to be even better than anticipated. At 19, he'll only get better. 4. Kevin Garnett, Minnesota Timberwolves A sore knee and bad team chemistry are killing him, but for an unprecedented sixth straight year ... 20-10-5. 5. Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks This 7-footer never ceases to be amazing as he hits the boards, handles the ball, runs and shoots from anywhere. Really amazing. 6. Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers An ankle sprain disrupted his season, but more importantly he still hasn't made his teammates better despite his vast talent. 7. Allen Iverson, Philadelphia 76ers Fearless Fly continues to lead the league in scoring, is pushing for another steals title and has raised his assist total. 8. Steve Nash, Phoenix Suns He has a shot at winning the Most Valuable Player award the way he transformed this team into a contender. 9. Jermaine O'Neal, Indiana Pacers It's been a tough year for J-O and the Pacers, and figures to get even tougher during the stretch run. 10. Tracy McGrady, Houston RocketsIt required three months, but finally Tracy McGrady has meshed with Jeff Van Gundy's system and Yao Ming. 11. Ray Allen, Seattle SuperSonics His fourth quarter heroics and consistent leadership have catapulted the surprising Sonics into contention. 12. Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat He's already proving to be a more amenable sidekick for Shaq than Bryant, but can they win titles too? 13. Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix Suns The addition of Nash has turned Stoudemire into an All-Star with his unerring drive to attack the basket. 14. Vince Carter, New Jersey Nets All it required was a trade to alter Carter from a dormant state into the exciting All-Star of three years ago. 15. Paul Pierce, Boston Celtics He's bounced back from a bad year and the return of his buddy Antoine Walker should help him even more. 16. Yao Ming, Houston Rockets Not the dominant player as predicted, but he is 7-6 and very skilled. Any more questions?
Just watching the mavs-lakers game right now, you'll know why Kobe is a better player than Tmac, even Tmac is more physically gifted. It is simply he wants to win much more than most other people.
I am guessing you don't watch the Lakers on consistent basis, and therefore are basing your analysis on pretty much this game, in which Dallas is playing stinky to be quiet honest. Kobe is the most selfish superstar in the league today. The guy does NOT improve his teammates; in fact, they have played worse since he has been back. Look, Kobe will ALWAYS get the nod over T-Mac because of the three rings he has with Shaq. But I don't think it is an exaggeration to say T-Mac is much more of a team player and a much better passer/ballhandler. Still, both players are great players, and you really can't go wrong with either one. Any "list" that ranks the players is simply someone's opinion, nothing scientific about it. For example, I reckon to say Dirk and Wade are better than Garnett at this stage. And Lebron NOW is better than Kobe or T-Mac? You have got to be kidding me! It is simply media hype, don't buy into it.
Oh, by the way, if AI is not in the top 3, then completely dismiss this list. But, overall, I would rank T-Mac somewhere in the top ten as well. I just disagree with the ranking of some of the players on the list. If the list is based on pure individual talent (regardless of their team performance), then you HAVE to put T-Mac AND Kobe above Nash, Lebron, and a few others. Bottom line, T-Mac and Kobe are two of the 5 most talented players in the league.
I used to think Kobe was a tad better than TMac simply because of Kobe's competiveness. But after watching TMac with the Rockets (I live in LA and watch a lot of Kobe), I now firmly believe that TMac is better. Talent-wise, TMac is a little bit better. Kobe has the drive, no doubt. But what set them apart is that TMac is a team player. Kobe is not.
Personally I think Kobe is better, but I am happy with Tmac. My only beef against him is too many jumpshots which lead to many horrible shooting nights and small number of FTs. It's hard to ask him to have the competitiveness of Kobe, who's at least two notches above anyone in the league.
Uhh... The Lakers win more with Kobe, that's the definition of making your teammates better, and some of his teammates are having career years in certain stats as well. Kobe is a pure shooting guard so sometimes he looks selfish, T-Mac is a great, great scorer but also has some sweet PG skills so he looks more like a team player. However, both want to win more than anything, the way they go at that goal differs. T-Mac has grown on me this season so I'll take him but as most would agree you can't go wrong with either.
Where is Larry Hughes? Corey Maggette is on the list? Al Harrington? No Hughes? Only thing I can think of is that he didn't play 75% of the games, but I'm pretty sure he has.
Guys, really, lets be realistic here: if given a choice of either T-Mac or Kobe, and you pick one over the other, can you really go wrong? I think you know the answer ...
WHAT! Which team has the better record? Since Kobe has come back from his injury, the Lakers have free-fallen almost out of the playoff eight. And, which players are having career years? Atkins and Mihm? These are guys who never got the opportunity that they have recieved untill now. So, of course they are going to put up better number. The fact that Odom, an all-star quality player in his own right, plays MUCH better without Kobe says more about his ability to make his teammates better or to be a team player. I'm not here to argue who is better than the other because, frankly, I really don't give a damn. As a Rocket fan, I love that TMac is playing for my team and that is good enough for me. The fact is, as long as Kobe plays in LA and TMac plays anywhere outside of Chicago or NY, Kobe will always be viewed as the better player. This year proves that those three championships were more contribued to Shaq than anything Kobe ever did as Shaq has taken a Heat team with Wade and a bunch of lesser talent to the East's best record. The LA hype machine will always promote Kobe as the better player no matter what just like they made Shaq "arguably the greatest center of all time".
The Lakers were 6-8 without Kobe, does it really matter if Odom had better stats if the Lakers were losing? They haven't been playing well since he came back, oh well, overall they have a better record with him. A few Lakers are shooting career high percentages. Well, I don't agree with the lesser talent comment but it won't really matter if the Heat don't win the championship. T-Mac and the Rockets will get rings, Kobe and the Lakers will be left behind, until then Kobe has the advantage regardless of the circumstances.
I got one thing to say. No rings for Kobe without Shaq, I'm not saying that he's not talented, but T-Mac is da bomb. I would have put T-Mac at least #5. Yao will be at #1 in a few years.
Tmac should be 6 or 7. The Lakers won w/o Kobe when they had Shaq. They were sub .500 with Kobe and w/o Shaq before this year.
This list is garbage. You never compare guys play different positions, it just doesn't make any basketball sense. Even you rank the players by positions, it still doesn't make much sense. No one thought Nash was better than Kidd, or Marbury, but he is the MVP now. Nash is still Nash, the difference is that he just found a team which maximized his strength. TMac vs Bryant? Who cares! The factor is Bryant won three rings, and Tmac has none. Obviously, the Rockets believe TMac is a better player to be along side of Yao. But, at the end of their career, people only remember the winner.