Top 5 Players in the East and West

I know we have seen already several power rankings among players, but this one is quite a bit different than the other lists and it's slow in the NBA world right now.

Another article from BootlegSports:

Awards Show - Western Conference MVP
by Ed Ouellette




MVP Crit

* Overall League ranking: I call this the “MJ Test”; even when Jordan didn’t win the MVP, he was widely acknowledged as the best player in the NBA, and it took the other factors to give the hardware to some other person. The “MJ Test” provides an ill-defined list of MVP-caliber players to consider and the higher up one is on this list, the better (duh). This paints with wide brush strokes, and is a gut-level reaction that just gets the ball rolling
* Quick look at the stats: I look here for good balance (scoring, rebounding, assists) and good field goal percentages. I think that this shows who contributes in the most areas and does so the most efficiently
* Scarcity of talent at the position: I do this in two primary ways. I look at the number of MVP-caliber players at the position, and I get a general sense of the replacement-level talent at that position. The first part of this lets me know which star dominates at his position, and the second part helps answer, “What if he were hurt… how would his team do?”
* Team’s success: a team that’s scraping the bottom of the barrel in the NBA just doesn’t deserve an MVP award except in extreme circumstances (I think 60 points a game might do it)
* Teammates: another MVP candidate hurts his chances, since it’s easier to succeed with another superstar to relieve the burden and it; a very deep, talented team hurts him, as well, since shots get more evenly distributed, fewer rebounds are available, etc.

Let's do this...

#5 Kobe Bryant – SG – Los Angeles Lakers

(25.2 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 5.5 apg, 46.9 FG%)

He’s the best shooting guard in the West, on the team that’s won three straight titles and relies on the twin quasars of Kobe and Shaq (more on him later). Kobe may be overhyped by the media (he is), and he may come off as smug and arrogant (he’s not), but there’s no question that he’s very good. Cementing his place in the top five is his field goal percentage; 46.9% isn’t quite in Michael Jordan territory (he only shot at that clip or lower four times: his second year, when he was hurt and limited to 18 games, his comeback season where he only played in 17 regular-season games, his final season as a Bull (46.5%) and this past season), but if you trace the origination of this sentence back before the mammoth parenthetical, in the era of Iversons and other perimeter bricklayers, it’s downright impressive.

#4 Gary Payton – PG – Seattle Sonics

(22.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 9.0 apg, 46.7 FG%)

With Jason Kidd’s trade to the Nets, Payton emerged as the clear number one point guard in the West. He helped lead an undersized, undermanned Sonics team to the playoffs, and he did it in a couple of different ways: he did what came naturally (shooting, defending, handling the ball) and unnaturally (being on-time and, generally, a happy camper). Payton might be back to his old self next year if he doesn’t get the extension he seeks this Summer, but his play last year earns him this spot on the MVP list.

#3 Chris Webber – PF – Sacramento Kings

(24.5 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 4.8 apg, 49.5 FG%)

Webber played at the deepest position in the Western Conference. The Kings had the best starting five in the NBA, and their bench added to their depth. Webber missed 28 games last year with various ailments and maladies, and the Kings went a surprising 15-5 to start the season without him and 19-9 overall sans Webber. With all of this said, Webber put up impressive numbers and was easily the best player on the team with the best record in the NBA. Not enough to get him the MVP, but enough to get him to number three.

#2 Tim Duncan – PF/C – San Antonio Spurs

(25.5 ppg, 12.7 rpg, 3.7 apg, 50.8 FG%)

In spite of Tony Parker’s emergence, it seems like the Spurs as a team are withering away; Steve Smith’s old… David Robinson’s old… Terry Porter’s old… but Tim Duncan continues to dominate and keep San Antonio in contention every year. If a certain big man had been more content to stay near Disney World rather than coming close to Disney Land, Duncan’s teams might have made five straight Finals appearances. Of course, that’s speculative but it is a statement to how consistent Duncan has been and, at age 26, will continue to be.

#1 Shaquille O’Neal – C – Los Angeles Lakers

(27.2 ppg, 10.7 rpg, 2.8 apg, 57.9 FG%)

Shaq’s the best player in the league. Hands down. He’s not a great defensive player or a great rebounder, but he crushes teams with his low-post presence. O’Neal missed 15 games and was slowed in almost all of the other 67 with bumps, bruises, and worse, but everyone who followed the NBA knew that if Shaq was even close to healthy, the Lakers were the best team in the world. O’Neal still has his warts as a player (his FG% has exceeded his FT% every season other than his rookie year; he hasn’t played an entire season’s schedule in his career; his bull-in-a-china shop style on the blocks bores or sickens 75% of non-Laker fans) but what he does he does extremely well. Best of all, he’s smart enough to know that since what he’s done has worked for a full decade in the NBA, he should keep doing it.

Honorable Mention

Kevin Garnett: he does it all, but he can’t earn a high seed and he plays the 4.
Dirk Nowitzki: no defense, but at age 23 he took another big step up.
Rasheed Wallace: another talented 4; FG% dipped as he took his game outside.
Elton Brand: superior numbers on a bad team; the only non-playoff player listed.


Awards Show - Eastern Conference MVP
by Ed Oullette

First up: Most Valuable Player, Eastern Conference. I’ll run through the criteria I set for my selections (remembering that while rules are made to be broken, because I made these rules myself I can ignore them altogether if I feel like it) and count down the top 5 before listing a few honorable mentions.


#5 Ben Wallace – F/C – Detroit Pistons

(7.6 ppg, 13.0 rpg, 1.4 apg, 53.1 FG%)

Wallace had a very good year, but he’s not the kind of player that I generally consider MVP-type, mainly because he’s not capable of winning big games by himself. He is an excellent defender and a rebounding machine with a very limited offensive game. He played as well as a player of his type can in the playoffs, but he was foiled by Stackhouse’s terrible play and the lack of any other offensive support. In fact, if Stackhouse had shot a few percentage points better in the regular season, he’d be here instead of Wallace, but any player that shoots over 17 times a game at lower than a 40% clip (and less than 30% from threes!) won’t appear on this list. With that said, the Pistons had a very good season in the East and Wallace was the single most important reason, so he graces us with his presence at number five.

#4 Baron Davis – PG – Charlotte Hornets

(18.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 8.5 apg, 41.7% FG%)

Nobody will mistake the Hornets’ depth with the 1987 Celtics’, but in spite of Jamal Mashburn missing over half the season, the Hornets finished fourth in the Eastern Conference. Why? It wasn’t Davis Wesley, PJ Brown, Elden Campbell and Lee Nailon, I’ll tell you that much. It was Baron Davis, the superb 23 year-old point guard. Remember: the MVP award doesn’t take into account his inspired (23 ppg, 7 rpg, 7.9apg) playoff performance, but Baron was the second-best PG in the East last year and helped his team overcome obstacles to succeed.

#3 Tracy McGrady – SG – Orlando Magic

(25.6 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 5.3 apg, 45.1 FG%)

The Magic were, in some ways, in the same boat as the Hornets last year. They both had their small forward out for the majority of the season (in the Magic’s case, Grant Hill) and they both had young stars lead them to 44 win seasons. And if one is going to disrespect the supporting cast of the Hornets, as I did above, then McGrady’s team gets it, too: Pat Garrity, Horace Grant, Mike Miller, Troy Hudson, Darrel Armstrong… not a team with a lot of good players in their prime. This is the story of most of the teams in the East, but McGrady got more out of his team than most other players.

#2 Paul Pierce – G/F – Boston Celtics

(26.1 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 3.2 apg, 44.2 FG%)

A couple years ago, shortly before the 1998 draft, I was telling everyone who’d listen that Vince Carter was good but that Pierce would be a better pro… fortunately, few paid attention to me or else I would have looked a bit silly as Pierce slid to tenth in the draft and AirCanahalfAmazing took two countries and Kenny Smith by storm. My backing for Pierce waned a bit but I was finally vindicated this season as Pierce managed to pry the rock away from Antoine Walker enough to put up such good numbers and lead the Celtics to the third-best record in the East.

#1 Jason Kidd – PG – New Jersey Nets

(14.7 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 9.9 apg, 39.1 FG%)

Did I say that I’d never put someone who shoots less than 40% from the field on this list? Fortunately, I was able to add a parenthetical about the 30% from three point range; Kidd shot a semi-respectable 32.1% from the arc to avoid the indignation that players such as the aforementioned Stackhouse and Iverson face by being excluded. (I’m sure Iverson’s reading this from his cell right now, fuming at the injustice of it all…)

Kidd’s not a great shooter (aren’t you glad I’m here to reveal all of life’s secrets?) but he came as close as anyone will come for a while to averaging a triple-double, and his team doubled their win total to 52 from the previous season. Granted, the Nets were healthier, added a couple key pieces with MacCulloch and Jefferson, and had a head coach in Byron Scott that had a full year of head coaching under his belt, but everyone can agree that Kidd was the straw that stirred the drink. He was the best point guard in the NBA, the best player on the best team in the East, and he was the Most Valuable Player in the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association in 2001-2002.

Honorable Mention

Jermaine O’Neal: probably the best power forward in the East at age 23.

Allen Iverson: injured all season, the 76ers underachieved and he shot poorly.

Jerry Stackhouse: the leading scorer on the second-best team deserves an HM.

Antoine Walker: a key to Boston’s season, but another sub-40% shooter.

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T-Mac behind PP? Kobe at #5 in WC? He knocked Dirk Nowitski out of the top 5 because he said he played no D. Yet he put Ben Wallace at #5 in the EC and he has no O.