You don't make it to the finals, without playing great basketball as a team. Lebron has one bad series, yet dominated against the Celtics and the Bulls, the two teams that had the best defence in the league. People are making out, he stunk it up the whole playoffs..
I don't know if he necessarily "dominated" against the Celtics and Bulls. He shared the load with both Bosh and Wade. He played great D in the Bulls series and had efficient offense against the Celtics. But suffered a complete meltdown against Dallas. Nobody said he stunk the whole playoffs. But really, as the saying goes, it's not how you start the race, it's how you finish. And every post-season, he consistently underwhelms in the end.
Wait, according to your logic of legacy in the Finals, Howard definitely shouldn't be #1. He never even made it to the Finals (did he?) much less won it. If you use both Finals and current level of play into your ranking equiation, then your ranking should actually be: 1). Wade 2). Dirk 3). Kobe 4). Lebron 5). Howard
Wade played below his standards both those series, and the only reason they made it past the Celtics and Bulls was because of Lebron dominating both offensively and defensible, as he is the best wing defender in the league. I agree he played bad against Dallas, but Miami was not swept, and it was the closest finals in over 10 years.
Watashi, why do you put kobe ahead of Ledouche on your list. Even though I hate him, Ledouche's performance was better then Kobe's this postseason
I am a not Wade fan. But it's amazing how LeChoker nuthugger wouldn't mind defaming every Heat to make LeChoker look better. Wade in semi conf: 30.2/6.8/4.8/.526 LeBron in semi conf: 28.0/8.2/3.6/.472 And somehow LeBron dominated both offensively and defensively while Wade played below his standard. I guess since Wade's the man in Heat, he's evaluated with a much higher standard.
Wade was the better player in the Celtics series. Just watch the series. Wade was dominating the entire game. Sure, Lebron managed to hit a couple of ridiculous shots at teh end of the games, but it was Wade ALL DAY who was dominating the Celtics. Lebron was a lot better than Wade against the Bulls. Wade was a lot better than Lebron against the Mavs.
This was how it went in the playoffs Vs Philly: Wade and Lebron were similar on offense, Lebron dominated on defense (he shut down Iggy, and had to guard Lou Williams/Holiday in the clutch). Wade had it easy on defense. Advantage - Lebron Vs Celtics: Wade and Lebron were similar on offense and defense. Even Vs Bulls: Lebron was dominant on both offense and defense. Advantage - Lebron Vs Dallas: Wade was more dominant on offense, but Lebron still had to guard the Jason Terrys, who was Wade's size. Advantage - Wade Clearly, Lebron became the more dominant player for the Heat as the playoffs went along as you saw how ridiculous the responsibilities for Lebron became. Wade's defensive responsibilities became less and less as the playoffs went along. Lebron choked vs Dallas, but that doesn't mean he's still not the better player. Ask Spoesltra. He basically treated Wade like JVG treated Tracy McGrady (play offense, but coast on defense in terms of man responsibilities), and gave Lebron everything he could handle on both ends.
T_MAC is in denial....just as he is about his whole career. Just keep on telling yourself you're one of the greatest...
You're the one who had Kobe Bryant #1 in your ranking. And Derrick Rose #3. That's called delusional.
First of all, I clearly stated in my first post that my ranking is what it says "my personal ranking". I don't ask for everyone to agree with it. And Kobe is far from my favorite player in the NBA. I hate his guts, and hate him even more after seeing how he did Bow Wow wrong by fouling him every time he touches the ball in another thread. Anyway, dispite his many character flaws, I have to respect him for what he's done to the game in a post-Jordan era. Nobody has dominated more in the last decade since Jordan retired. If you want to rank players by one single season (2010-2011), yes I'd put Lebron at #1. If you want to rank the best players still playing in the NBA (in general), I don't think anyone should be mentioned in the top 2 unless they carried their team to a championship ring. With that, I think Kobe, despite his poor 2010-11 season and declining game, should still be the standard in the NBA.
Dirk not on these lists for this season is ridiculous. Whether you like him or not he was the best player in the playoffs.
