What about Nash. He can dribble, pass, catch-and-shoot, shoot on the run and bounce a ball off his head. What's not to like?
Good call......talk about your underachiever. How sweet it will be to see T-Mac get a ring b4 his cousin A few guys on the bubble would be... Tim Duncan - the big fundamental Dwayne Wade - still has a lot to prove but clearly this guy is for real Jason Kidd - IMHO he is far superior to White Chocolate and should have gotten the MVP a few years back when he led the freakin' NY Nets to the finals after having the worst record in the leage (so I guess I would have to disagree with you on that one ) Underachievers not mentioned... Rashweed Wallace - dude had so much upside and got exiled to the Portland Jail Blazers and the rest is history. Of course he did make a pretty good comeback with Detroit but clearly his best years are behind him.
I agree that Kobe has a lower ceiling than Lebron and TMac. Many people believe Lebron has the highest ceiling. I think we should still have to wait and see what TMac can do. IMO, the only thing Lebron is possibly better than TMac is his court vision. But TMac has always been a great scorer and therefore, his passing is underrated. I think he has a great sense of making the right decisions on court. In that, Lebron is slightly inferior, but that could be due to experience. Lebron is getting there fast. Kidd in his prime is better than Jason Williams in every aspect except athleticism. So if JW is on the "haves" list, Kidd should be on the "hads" list. Garnett should be on the "haves" list. He can do everything TMac and Kobe do except outside shooting. But because of his height, he can do better in rebounding and defense. Odom certainly should be mentioned. Oh, uh, how about that Yao Ming dude?
Tmac is an amazing ball handler, especially for his size. He was our best point guard last season. I like it when he toys with people one-on-one, like dribbling the ball around one leg with one hand, over and over.
D'OH! Wallace! How could I forget about him! He's definitely one of my picks too. I thought about Kidd a lot. He's definitely way, way up there on the natural talent list... I think the reason I left him off is that I feel there was no point in his career where he could put the ball in the hole at will. I disagree that he was superior to J-Will in every way. If J-Will felt like getting to the rack, no double or triple team could stop him. His sense of balance, both his own and his opponents', to go with his ballhandling ability and quickness let J-Will get to the rim when he wanted to, period. Sure, J-Kidd was great on the drive, I'm not taking anything away from him here, it's just that I think AI and J-Will were on another level from the rest of the league in that area. I thought even more about Carter. I certainly think that's an extremely credible assertion that he should be mentioned... I've heard stories about him working over the entire Olympic team 1-on-1, etc... but I confess to not watching him play enough to make a good judgement.
I guess I don't see how anyone can say that Kobe isn't on the list and Jason Williams is. Kobe is flat-out one of the most gifted players to play this game in the past decade. I mean, I know it's the "in" thing to hate the guy, but his ability to score, shoot, hit clutch shots, play defense when he "wants to", and killer instincts are damn near second to none in the league today. His shortcomings are located between his ears. And if that's a negative, what does it say about Jason Williams? KG should be on anyone's list. Height is a natural gift. Height with the ability to play D or O at 5 positions is unheard of. That's what KG can do. Combine that with a motor that very few people in the NBA short of Allen Iverson have, and you have one of the 5 best players in the league. KG is Dirk minus the lethal outside shot but plus about 100 other things. I'll have to think about this... hmmm...
NATURAL talent & gifts? IMO following are guys who have an abundance of these - who are "freakish" - NOBODY can do what they do, because they simply don't have the genes for it (doesn't mean these are the best players in the league - they just have very unique, and applicable to bball, gifts). David Robinson would be my prototypical example of this player, because he didn't even much like basketball, or work at it (taken from anecdotes from former coaches and teammates), but was so gifted he got to do it successfully and lucratively anyway. Size (lots of it): Shaq Length WITH coordination: Garnett & Nowitski Height: Yao Speed: Iverson & Parker THEN there are your basketball freaks, guys who just ball unbelievably for there size (relatively big without being unbelievably big): Magic & MJ would be the prototypes for this player. LeBron McGrady Kobe
Definitely Vince Carter... a few years back in Toronto, when Tmac was still around, VC placed first in every athletic category and came second to Tmac in one. He was also one of the strongest players (surprisingly) I think VC is probably the most naturally gifted player in the league. He just doesn't work hard enough to be the player he can be. He was a below average shooter in his first year, came back in his second year to be one of the best. You can't just do that in one summer, regardless of how hard you work at it.
The question you've posed is "Who are today's most naturally gifted players?" Then you proceed to shoot a few down for being big and athletic. Isn't size a natural gift? Isn't athleticism a natural gift?
Agreed. I was gonna argue the point about KG being just a notable, but you did it for me. Garnett may be one of the most gifted athletes in sports, let alone hoops. I think Carmelo Anthony is extremely gifted, and of course McGrady, James, Bryant, etc.
That was simply the thread title. The question I actually ended up posing in my first post was "which players currently in the NBA have/had the most natural basketball talent, whether they harnessed and used it effectively or not?" Basically, things that aren't just physical gifts. I would've written all that in the title, but it would've ended up kinda long. Anybody can say who the most athletically gifted players are. It's obvious, hence I'm not especially interested in discussing it, but whatever.
