Now that the season over, rank the Top 5 players in the league

[StateOfMind12]

Here would be my top 5...

1. LeBron James
2. Kevin Durant
3. Chris Paul
4. Dwight Howard
5. Kobe Bryant

Dwight would probably be #3 if he didn't hurt his back and if he wasn't such a diva/distraction but because of that I'm going to put him at #4 behind CP3. If we were to take off health concerns or health in general, I would probably put Rose at #4 and push Howard down to #5 but health is a legitimate concern and it is part of the game.

[Mr. Jabbar]

Kobe
CP3
Wade
Bosh
Battier

[QUIZZLE]

LeBron
Howard
Durant
Chris Paul
Kobe Bryant

[Alamo]

1. Lebron James
2. Chris Bosh
3. Mario Chalmers
4. Mike Miller/Shane Battier/Dwyane Wade
5. Manu Ginobili

[Clippersfan86]

Lebron
Durant
CP3
Kobe
Howard

The top 4 are identical to MVP voting rank too.

[dyna]

1. Lebron
2. Durant
3. Howard
4. Kobe
5. CP3

[trabash]

1. LeBron James
2. Dwight Howard
3. Chris Paul
4. Kevin Durant
5. Dirk Nowitzki

[theaussieguy]

lol at people that put dwight howard in the top5. Dude is a cancer to the franchise. The amount he gets paid pretty much ruins any team he is on a chance at a ring because he just is not effective enough at what he does. He is a great defender yea but any team is going to have to rely on his offense which is patchy at best.

Dudes a black hole. Stay away from him.

[QUIZZLE]

lol at people that put dwight howard in the top5. Dude is a cancer to the franchise. The amount he gets paid pretty much ruins any team he is on a chance at a ring because he just is not effective enough at what he does. He is a great defender yea but any team is going to have to rely on his offense which is patchy at best.

Dudes a black hole. Stay away from him.

Sorry, I forgot the thread said 'Top 5 Personalities In the League'

I hate the guy more than anyone but you're a fool to ignore his freak-of-nature athleticism and overall talent. Dude gets 20+ boards a game like ten times a season and puts every team they play in foul trouble.

[Clippersfan86]

Sorry, I forgot the thread said 'Top 5 Personalities In the League'

I hate the guy more than anyone but you're a fool to ignore his freak-of-nature athleticism and overall talent. Dude gets 20+ boards a game like ten times a season and puts every team they play in foul trouble.

Yup. Biggest dickhead in NBA and team cancer BUT top 5 talent/production.

[BuGzBuNNy]

1. Lebron James
2. Dwight Howard
3. Kevin Durant
4. Kobe Bryant
5. Chris Paul

[blablabla]

Lebron
Durant
Kobe
CP3
Dwight

[Harison]

1. Lebron James
2. Dwight Howard
3. Kevin Durant
4. Kobe Bryant
5. Chris Paul
+1

[ShaqAttack3234]

Top 4 has been obvious to me for a while. 5th is less clear to me, though.

1.Lebron James
2.Kevin Durant
3.Chris Paul
4.Dwight Howard
5.Kobe Bryant

Dwight failed to match his great '10-'11 season, otherwise he'd be higher.

[pauk]

1. Lebron James

*GAP*

2. Kevin Durant
3. Dwight Howard
4. Russell Westbrook
5. Kobe Bryant

[Teanett]

1.lebron
2.durant
3.melo
4.lin
5.novak

[SacJB Shady]

Lebron James (best sf)
Dwight Howard (best C)
Kevin Durant (best shooter, pure scorer)
Kevin Love (best pf)
Dwayne Wade (best sg)

[blacknapalm]

Top 4 has been obvious to me for a while. 5th is less clear to me, though.

1.Lebron James
2.Kevin Durant
3.Chris Paul
4.Dwight Howard
5.Kobe Bryant

Dwight failed to match his great '10-'11 season, otherwise he'd be higher.

i could probably roll with this. if kobe isn't #5, i'd go love or wade. i'm most certainly factoring in wade's bum knee. he's a candidate at that spot though unless he just looks terrible again next season. mind you, terrible by superstar standards...i'm also interested to see how dwight does post back surgery. i think a lot of people are overlooking that. it wasn't just akin to a minor knee scope from what i understand. couple that with his BMI (despite looking ripped) and the fact that he carries most of his weight in the upper body...doesn't point to positive stuff

[Shep]

1. lebron james
2. kevin durant
3. dwyane wade
4. rajon rondo
5. russell westbrook

[RazorBaLade]

including playoffs (so, didnt play at least 1 round of playoffs, disqualified)

Lebron
Durant
Rondo
Kobe
CP3

Not sure if it changes much without playoffs but it'd be hard to figure out where dwight/rose go with their weird years.

[Owl]

LeBron
Howard
Paul-Durant
Whoever (Love maybe?)



Yup. Biggest dickhead in NBA and team cancer BUT top 5 talent/production.
Kobe: demanded a trade, bitched out management, demanded the trade of Bynum for Jason Kidd, was at least partially responsible in the ousting of PJ and Shaq.

LeBron: the decision

Carmelo: the inDecesion (Dwight before Dwight).

And that's just the superstars never mind real cancers or headcases like Stephen Jackson or Cousins.

Just because something is the most recent occurance of something it doesn't make it the worst ever. Historically we can go back to examples of Shaq, MJ, Magic, Jabbar and Wilt being petty, demanding trades etc

Too many people lack perspective and see whatever happened most recently to be "the biggest" or the only instance of poor behaviour, or the last game or series as the only indication of players ability.

[bluechox2]

Lebron
durant
kobe
paul
dwight

[NumberSix]

1. KingJames
2. Dwight Howard
3. Dwyane Wade
4. Rondo
5. CP3

[pauk]

No love for Westbrook? I think he was amazing..

[Fatstogie]

Here would be my top 5...

1. LeBron James
2. Kevin Durant
3. Chris Paul
4. Dwight Howard
5. Kobe Bryant

Dwight would probably be #3 if he didn't hurt his back and if he wasn't such a diva/distraction but because of that I'm going to put him at #4 behind CP3. If we were to take off health concerns or health in general, I would probably put Rose at #4 and push Howard down to #5 but health is a legitimate concern and it is part of the game.

Everyone but dwight. He clogs the paint too much. Dwight is the reason the magic are good and the reason they loose. No one else on the team is allowed to get lay ups or easy shots when dwight is on the floor. So idk if ima put dwight in there or not. Because all the awesomeness on defense? He ruins it on the offensive end.

[Meticode]

LeBron James
Kevin Durant
Dwight Howard
Kobe Bryant
Chris Paul

Kobe would've been 3 for me if he didn't shoot so horribly from the field this year.

[Peteballa]

1. LeBron
2. Durant
3. Kobe
4. CP3 / Rondo
5. Rose / Westbrook

[ShaqAttack3234]

Everyone but dwight. He clogs the paint too much. Dwight is the reason the magic are good and the reason they loose. No one else on the team is allowed to get lay ups or easy shots when dwight is on the floor. So idk if ima put dwight in there or not. Because all the awesomeness on defense? He ruins it on the offensive end.

:oldlol: Nobody else on Orlando gets lay ups because they're one-dimensional players who chuck 3s.

J-Rich amd Redick have no handles, Ryan Anderson's skill set consists entirely of 3 pointers and offensive rebounds, he has no ability when it comes to creating his own shot. Hedo used to get to the rim all the time when he ran screen/rolls with Howard, but he's been lazy since he got that contract, and he often times settles for awkward, off-balance 3s. Jameer is a better finisher than you'd expect for a 5'10" player, and he's shown it, primarily in screen/rolls with Howard, but there's a limit to how much he'll do it at his size. Plus, Jameer is far too poor of a decision maker for you to want him to handle the ball a ton.

Orlando would be so lost at both ends without Howard for an entire season. They'd get the occasional win when they were red hot on 3s, because that's all they do, but because they completely lack guys who can create off the dribble on the perimeter, they'd be far too inconsistent because nobody is going to win consistently with just 3 point shooters.

Howard is their only chance at being a solid offensive team on a consistent basis. Orlando was solid offensively before Howard went down, but they fell off big time late in the season, both offensively and defensively when he went down.

So, you're talking out of your ass again.

[WockaVodka]

1. Lebron
2. Durant
3. Dwight
4. KG
5. CP3

[Foster5k]

Lebron
Durant
Rondo
Carmelo
Kobe

[IGotACoolStory]

Well surprisingly no one has posted this order of the top 4 yet...

1) LeBron
2) Durant
3) Howard
4) Paul
5) Kobe

[longtime lurker]

LeBron
Howard
Paul-Durant
Whoever (Love maybe?)



Kobe: demanded a trade, bitched out management, demanded the trade of Bynum for Jason Kidd, was at least partially responsible in the ousting of PJ and Shaq.

LeBron: the decision

Carmelo: the inDecesion (Dwight before Dwight).

And that's just the superstars never mind real cancers or headcases like Stephen Jackson or Cousins.

Just because something is the most recent occurance of something it doesn't make it the worst ever. Historically we can go back to examples of Shaq, MJ, Magic, Jabbar and Wilt being petty, demanding trades etc

Too many people lack perspective and see whatever happened most recently to be "the biggest" or the only instance of poor behaviour, or the last game or series as the only indication of players ability.

LOL at trying to make Kobe's actions even seem comparable to Dwight's fvcking self involved bs. You can take Carmelo off that list too.

[che guevara]

Based on this season?

1. Lebron
2. Durant
3. CP3
4. Dwight
5. Kobe?

Weak season for the top 5, and I had a hard time deciding after the top 3. I don't want to put Dwight up there because of what happened in Orlando this year, but at the same time he's just too damn good to ignore completely. I also was not at all a fan of how Kobe played this year, and I thought he had his worst season since '99-'00, but I don't know who else I could put above him.

[Tenchi Ryu]

It burns me seeing Howard on so many people's list....not just here, but the general consensus.

For acting like a ***** all damn year and straight up giving up on his team and bitching out MULTIPLE times this year, just honestly feel he doesn't deserve a top 5 spot. No killer mentality, no drive, nothing.

[GOBB]

Lebron James
Kobe Bryant
Dwight Howard
Derrick Rose
Kevin Durant

[Kingwillball]

Lebron
Durant
D12
Kobe
Rondo Dude is a Unique Player but Rose, Cp3, Rose also have a claim for top PG position.

[ShaqAttack3234]

i could probably roll with this. if kobe isn't #5, i'd go love or wade. i'm most certainly factoring in wade's bum knee. he's a candidate at that spot though unless he just looks terrible again next season. mind you, terrible by superstar standards...i'm also interested to see how dwight does post back surgery. i think a lot of people are overlooking that. it wasn't just akin to a minor knee scope from what i understand. couple that with his BMI (despite looking ripped) and the fact that he carries most of his weight in the upper body...doesn't point to positive stuff

I considered Wade, but injuries combined with such limited minutes, inconsistency and the fact that I don't think he's explosive enough to make up for the lack of a jump shot the way he did in '10 and '11. I did really like his improved post game, though.

Kobe looked like a more capable player to me this year, my only issue is that I wouldn't want to rely on either Wade or Kobe to lead my team to a title the way they played this year, but I don't think Kobe would work well playing as a 2nd option either the way he's playing this year, so that's one edge Wade has.

Definitely wouldn't go with Love in the discussion for top 5, though. Maybe top 10.


Based on this season?

1. Lebron
2. Durant
3. CP3
4. Dwight
5. Kobe?

Weak season for the top 5, and I had a hard time deciding after the top 3. I don't want to put Dwight up there because of what happened in Orlando this year, but at the same time he's just too damn good to ignore completely. I also was not at all a fan of how Kobe played this year, and I thought he had his worst season since '99-'00, but I don't know who else I could put above him.

Well said, I'm in complete agreement. I was bothered by Kobe's tendency to hold the ball and overdribble this season. I defended him taking as many shots as he did throughout most of the season because they had absolutely no perimeter threat until Sessions arrived. But I often don't like the way he's getting his shots, or the shots he's taking. Holding and dribbling the ball a long time to work for your own shot is not efficient basketball, imo, and because of the loss in athleticism, he has to work more for his shots than before.

Also, he shouldn't be taking a significant amount of 3s considering he shot 30%, it's not like it's only 1 year that he's been a mediocre 3 point shooter either. The finger injuries have taken away some of that ability, as well as knee injuries and age have affected his lift because he was only at 33% on 3s in '10 and 32% in '11. So it appears that part of his game is gone, he was a very good 3 point shooter from '03-'09, but now he should forget it and focus on his mid-range game. His mid-range game and post game are still phenomenal, there's no better post up guard in the league, although those opportunities are limited with Bynum and Gasol.

I think a problem is that Mike Brown is clueless offensively, and completely unwilling to critique Kobe's game. It's not surprising given the stories about Mike Brown not criticizing Lebron for mistakes he'd criticize other Cavs for. Plus Mike Brown's completely unprofessional and embarrassing quote that he'll defer to Kobe because Kobe has won titles. Does he understand what a coaches job is and that a coach should be the boss of a team? I think that we saw more of Kobe's bad habits because Phil and the triangle were gone.

Mike Brown's offensive system and strategy are a joke in general. Look at how Gasol, arguably the most skilled big man in the league is being wasted out on the perimeter with Bynum hogging the post in this offense. Phil knew what he was doing when he had Bynum reduced to a finisher and defender/rebounder, they had their best stretch of the '10-'11 season with Bynum in that role after the all-star break, and they won in '09 with Bynum a virtual non-factor in the '09 playoffs and Gasol/Odom excelling, and in '10 with Bynum as a 9/7, 24 mpg role player, and Pau playing the best ball of his career.

Gasol is clearly the better option because he can score at least as well as Bynum, but he's unselfish, much smarter, and perhaps the best passing big man in the league. Bynum is a black hole, and doesn't make other players better. He simply doesn't know how to handle double teams.

The problem is that out of the Lakers big 3, Gasol is the only one willing to defer so he ends up being the 3rd option when Bynum should be.

I'd understand more if the Lakers were rebuilding, but they're clearly in win now mode with a 33 year old Kobe as their best player. It seems like they're somewhat in transition, but as long as they have Kobe as their 1st option, they should have Gasol as their second option.

[Callystarr]

1. Lebron James
2. Kevin Durant
3. Russell Westbrook
4. Dwyane Wade
5. Kobe Bryant

[lilgodfather1]

LeBron
Durant
Kobe
Paul
Westbrook

[Vertical-24]

Lebron James (best sf)
Dwight Howard (best C)
Kevin Durant (best shooter, pure scorer)
Kevin Love (best pf)
Dwayne Wade (best sg)

GTFO.

1. LeBron James (the MVP, the Champion)'
2. Kevin Durant
3. Chris Paul
4. Kobe Bryant
5. Dwight Howard

Unbiased. Realistic.

[BuGzBuNNy]

It's pretty clear that some people are ranking players based on the season they had and some are ranking them based on how good they think the player is regardless, some are doing a hybrid of the two. All are valid ways, but let's just get that clear.

[nightprowler10]

Lebron James
Kobe Bryant
Dwight Howard
Derrick Rose
Kevin Durant
Yup, DRose still exists. :applause:

[Fudge]

1. LeBron James
2. Kevin Durant

3. Kobe Bryant
4. Dwyane Wade
5. a)Chris Paul
5. b)Dwight Howard

[StateOfMind12]

Yup, DRose still exists. :applause:
If Rose is healthy, my top 5 would probably be this.

1. LBJ
2. KD
3. CP3
4. Rose
5. Howard

The problem is that he is not healthy though.

[flipogb]

1. Lebron James

*GAP*

2. Kevin Durant
3. Dwight Howard
4. Russell Westbrook
5. Kobe Bryant
like this one, includes Kobe and no CP3

[RRR3]

Number one is the only position that is undebatable right now, and number one is obviously LeBron James:pimp:

The next three I would say are (in no order): Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant and Chris Paul.

After those 4 I don't really know. I guess either Wade, Kobe or Westbrook? :confusedshrug:

[StateOfMind12]

No love for Westbrook? I think he was amazing..
I think Westbrook is better than Wade but not Kobe. I'm not so sure though, I'm pretty open about that comparison though so if anyone who wants to present why they think Westbrook is better than Kobe, I'll listen.

[All Net]

If Rose is healthy, my top 5 would probably be this.

1. LBJ
2. KD
3. CP3
4. Rose
5. Howard

The problem is that he is not healthy though.

if everybody was healthly I would still include Wade in my top 5.

Still believe he is one of the best in the game but his knee restricted him more this year than people think. It's not down to decline IMO.

[bleedinpurpleTwo]

Battier
Chalmers
Mike Miller
Bosh
Lamarcus Aldridge

[Horde of Temujin]

Dwight is not top 10 or 15

[AK47DR91]

1. LeBron
2. Durant
3. Howard
4. Paul
5. Parker

[The GM]

1. Lebron
2. Kobe
3. Howard
4. KD
5- Dirk/CP3

Chris Paul is a stud but is he really the best PG? Rondo, Deron, Westbrook, Parker, Rose all have an legitimate argument, very debatable imo. After Dirks slow start he turned it up significantly (look at what he did from February on) I think he still has to be in the discussion.

[lbj23clutch]

LeBron
Durant
CP3
Kobe
Howard( would be higher, but injuries + disaster with Orlando puts him lower.)

[lbj23clutch]

1. Lebron
2. Kobe
3. Howard
4. KD
5- Dirk/CP3

Chris Paul is a stud but is he really the best PG? Rondo, Deron, Westbrook, Parker, Rose all have an legitimate argument, very debatable imo. After Dirks slow start he turned it up significantly (look at what he did from February on) I think he still has to be in the discussion.
Explain? This isn't 2011, Dirk was a bit disappointing this season, but I fear age might have to do with this.

[The GM]

Explain? This isn't 2011, Dirk was a bit disappointing this season, but I fear age might have to do with this.

He had a very very slow start due to conditioning but as the season went on he picked it up and he looked close to the old Dirk (just look at what he did against OKC in the 1st rd).

I do agree age might be catching up to him but even with that I expect him to bounce back next year, I don't think he's done being an elite player just yet, Wade could very well decline faster then Dirk with the lack of weapons in his arsenal.

[StateOfMind12]

if everybody was healthly I would still include Wade in my top 5.

Still believe he is one of the best in the game but his knee restricted him more this year than people think. It's not down to decline IMO.
Even if he was hurt, he was still healthy enough to play whereas Rose and Howard weren't. If you play, your healthy in my opinion.

[blacknapalm]

Even if he was hurt, he was still healthy enough to play whereas Rose and Howard weren't. If you play, your healthy in my opinion.

no varying degrees of injury? rose tore his ACL. immediate surgery every time. howard had a herniated disk which also involves surgery right away almost all the time. i wouldn't be surprised if wade has his knee scoped this offseason. yes, he was healthy enough to play (no major structural damage that needed attention) but he was obviously somewhat limited and in pain

[konex]

Kobe
LeBron
Westbrook
Durant
Rondo

[magnax1]

1-Lebron
2-Dwight
3-Wade
4-KD
5-Kobe
I know everyone thinks Wade has some huge drop off, but I don't really agree. He was inconsistent as hell all season, but his statistical drop off is mostly because of his limited minutes. His playoffs were certainly weak, but I think that was pretty clearly because his bad knee was robbing him of his quickness. I do think he dropped off overall, but it wasn't massive at all.
I can't rank KD above Wade and Dwight considering how little he impacts the game excluding his scoring, and I often times feel like he's the cause of a huge amount of OKC's defensive woes. If he was just an average defender or passer, I'd feel fine ranking him higher, but I just don't see him giving Orlando or Miami as many wins as the two I ranked above him. Both Wade and Dwight contribute at a very high level in every facet of the game, and during the regular season Wade wasn't even that far behind KD in scoring on a per minute basis.
Kobe vs CP3 is hard. There really isn't much separating them.

[ShaqAttack3234]

I know everyone thinks Wade has some huge drop off, but I don't really agree. He was inconsistent as hell all season, but his statistical drop off is mostly because of his limited minutes. His playoffs were certainly weak, but I think that was pretty clearly because his bad knee was robbing him of his quickness. I do think he dropped off overall, but it wasn't massive at all.

I don't really understand the minutes argument when a player seems to be declining and deals with injuries. Wade was banged up, missed 17 games in a 66 game season, and lacked the stamina to dominate entire games consistency while playing the minutes he played, so I don't see how the minutes argument applies.

He was simply a 22/5/5 regular season and 23/5/4 playoff player, imo.


I can't rank KD above Wade and Dwight considering how little he impacts the game excluding his scoring, and I often times feel like he's the cause of a huge amount of OKC's defensive woes. If he was just an average defender or passer, I'd feel fine ranking him higher, but I just don't see him giving Orlando or Miami as many wins as the two I ranked above him. Both Wade and Dwight contribute at a very high level in every facet of the game, and during the regular season Wade wasn't even that far behind KD in scoring on a per minute basis.

Again, I don't see the per minute argument with Wade and Durant's scoring. Wade is a poor shooter, while Durant is an excellent shooter, Wade isn't the best off the ball player, while Durant plays well without the ball, and Durant is 5-6 inches taller than Wade.

Durant outscored Wade by 6 ppg while they both shot 50% from the field, but Durant was also making 2 threes per game and shooting 39% on them, while Wade was making just 0.3 3s per game and shooting 27% on them. So Durant was scoring a lot more, and on better efficiency, and he did it over far more games while being more durable. There's no way of knowing if you maintain the same scoring rate with more minutes either.

The minute argument only really applies to me if you're either on a deep team, or one that's blowing out a lot of teams.

I can respect that you're valuing all around players more, but I just don't see the minute argument.


Kobe vs CP3 is hard. There really isn't much separating them.

Really? I thought that Paul was quite clearly the better player this year. I had a difficult time deciding between Paul and Kobe in '11, though. But Paul impressed me quite a bit more this season.

By the way, given your rankings for Wade and Howard, I have to ask if you're ranking who you think is just the best players, or if you're just ranking the players based on the '11-'12 season exclusively, because I'm doing the latter.

[All Net]

Even if he was hurt, he was still healthy enough to play whereas Rose and Howard weren't. If you play, your healthy in my opinion.

Yes he was healthly enough to play but not healthly enough to play at the level he is used to. Anytime you need surgery which is what reports are saying Wade likely needs this summer it clearly affected his game. He still played a high enough level but doesn't mean he wasn't restricted. Obviously his issues won't anywhere near as bad as Rose and Dwight. That goes without saying.

[miles berg]

1. LeBron
2. Durant
3. Dwight
4. Dirk
5. Kobe

[madmax]

1. Lebron James
2. Chris Paul
3. Dwyane Wade
4. Kevin Durant
5. Kevin Love

[RRR3]

Kobe
LeBron
Westbrook
Durant
Rondo
Da fuq? C'mon son. How on earth is lebron not the best player right now. He's miles better than Kobe currently :facepalm

[imdaman99]

lebron
durant
kobe
cp3
westbrook

id put howard... but hes coming off a mehh year with a mehh attitude and hes planning on leaving a mehh team

[RRR3]

I will say that Dwight is getting underrated. He should have been MVP in 2011 IMO. His impact is enormous.

[Odinn]

1. LeBron
2. Durant
3. CP3
4. Kobe
5. Love or Dwight or Westbrook

[StateOfMind12]

Yes he was healthly enough to play but not healthly enough to play at the level he is used to. Anytime you need surgery which is what reports are saying Wade likely needs this summer it clearly affected his game. He still played a high enough level but doesn't mean he wasn't restricted. Obviously his issues won't anywhere near as bad as Rose and Dwight. That goes without saying.
Well I guess the problem is that Wade is always injured so I treat him that as long as he is playing he is healthy. Wade is an injury prone player so you just have to get use to the fact that he will almost always be hurt. It's not an anomaly that Wade is hurt while it is for someone like Dwight, Rose, etc up until this season.

[guy]

Since top 5 players RIGHT NOW seems to mean so many things, I'm going to offer 3 different versions:

Top 5 players based on this past season's performance:

1. Lebron
2. Durant
3. CP3
4. Rondo
5. Kobe

Top 5 players based on who I would want going into next season:

1. Lebron
2. Durant
3. Howard
4. CP3
5. Rondo

Top 5 players based on who I would want going into next season and beyond:

1. Lebron
2. Durant
3. Howard
4. Rose
5. CP3

[magnax1]

I don't really understand the minutes argument when a player seems to be declining and deals with injuries. Wade was banged up, missed 17 games in a 66 game season, and lacked the stamina to dominate entire games consistency while playing the minutes he played, so I don't see how the minutes argument applies.

He was simply a 22/5/5 regular season and 23/5/4 playoff player, imo.
Well he was clearly capable of playing more minutes, because he played 40 MPG in the playoffs despite being injured.



Again, I don't see the per minute argument with Wade and Durant's scoring. Wade is a poor shooter, while Durant is an excellent shooter, Wade isn't the best off the ball player, while Durant plays well without the ball, and Durant is 5-6 inches taller than Wade.
Well I think they both have their strengths and weaknesses as scorers. Durant, despite improving quite a bit in this area, still clearly struggles in being able to create a good shot every time down the floor for OKC. He almost has to have the defense mess up for him not to take a contested 20+ footer. That's not to say he can't get efficient shots, because he still gets ton of transition shots, shots off bad defense, and free throws in the playoffs, but I think just in terms of being able to create for himself in every scenario he's lackluster. That's part of why Westbrook takes nearly as many shots as him despite just not being as capable of a scorer, a long with the fact that he just constantly takes dumb shots.
Durant is clearly a better scorer, but I don't think there is a massive divide between the two because Wade really creates for himself and breaks down the defense almost every time he scores, which I think is usually more valuable.
And I disagree about Wade not being very good off the ball. Spoelstra doesn't use him off the ball very well, that's for sure, but when he does come off screens he uses them very well, and I remember being quite impressed with his ability to do that when he played with Shaq.


There's no way of knowing if you maintain the same scoring rate with more minutes either.
That is true, but when healthy he looked like he was definitely capable of playing 35-40 mpg still.


The minute argument only really applies to me if you're either on a deep team, or one that's blowing out a lot of teams.
Well I do think the Heat blowing out people in the middle of the season, when Wade was healthy actually affected his mpg quite a bit. Despite it being his best stretch as an individual this season (at least to me) from february 3rd to March 10th, which was a stretch of 18 games with only 3 losses, he averaged 24-5-5 on 60 TS%, while only playing 31 MPG. The other two stretches of the season, he didn't look nearly as good and played about 35 mpg.
So I guess the question really is what you take away from Wade's injuries, because he looked clearly better then KD to me for the stretches he was healthy. The Injuries did clearly affect him the playoffs, but I don't know if the change is permanent or not.




Really? I thought that Paul was quite clearly the better player this year. I had a difficult time deciding between Paul and Kobe in '11, though. But Paul impressed me quite a bit more this season.
I think both of their teams underachieved a bit honestly, but for completely different reasons. The Clippers D was awful, and I do think CP3 had a part in that, and LA's offensive flow was awful, and Kobe had a part in that too. I think Mike Brown/Pau Gasol, and the Clippers awful defensive front court and perimeter size problems were the main reasons, but they both had clear flaws this season.
As for their impact, it's just hard to compare the impact of a 30 ppg scorer to a pass first PG. If there is a difference to me, it's the CP3 is so small. I know it's a weird criticism, but it just seems to affect his impact an awful lot sometimes. It changes a lot of the ways he can matchup to different teams compared to other PGs, and he struggles against some of the bigger PGs (which are pretty few and far between, but still)
I know CP3 was injured, but even in the memphis series he was a bit disappointing to me. He just seems to often fall short of my expectations in the playoffs.


By the way, given your rankings for Wade and Howard, I have to ask if you're ranking who you think is just the best players, or if you're just ranking the players based on the '11-'12 season exclusively, because I'm doing the latter.
Mostly just off this season.

[BallsOut]

Based on regular season and postseason:

1)Lebron
2)Durant
3)Kobe
4)Cp3
5)Howard

6)Westbrook
7)Melo
8)Rondo
9)Love
10)Wade

11)Dirk
12)Bynum
13)Aldridge
14)Bosh
15)Gasol

Rose is not included because he was injured for most of the regular season.

[All Net]

Well I guess the problem is that Wade is always injured so I treat him that as long as he is playing he is healthy. Wade is an injury prone player so you just have to get use to the fact that he will almost always be hurt. It's not an anomaly that Wade is hurt while it is for someone like Dwight, Rose, etc up until this season.

True wade has always had injury issues but in a lockout season with less games and so many close together I guess it was always going to be an issue for him like it was for most players this year.

[WockaVodka]

Since top 5 players RIGHT NOW seems to mean so many things, I'm going to offer 3 different versions:

Top 5 players based on this past season's performance:

1. Lebron
2. Durant
3. CP3
4. Rondo
5. Kobe

Top 5 players based on who I would want going into next season:

1. Lebron
2. Durant
3. Howard
4. CP3
5. Rondo

Top 5 players based on who I would want going into next season and beyond:

1. Lebron
2. Durant
3. Howard
4. Rose
5. CP3
Rondo? I believe he wasn't even the best player on his own team last season and that his teammate KG was.

[rzp]

so many picking Kobe at top 5... lmao dude is a fkin cancer nowadays, chucking more than ever. It looks like a chinese forum, full of newbie media folowers :oldlol:

[StateOfMind12]

Dwight failed to match his great '10-'11 season, otherwise he'd be higher.
You could say the same for players like Dirk and Wade though. Your top 5 is the same as mine though so props. :cheers:


Sorry, I forgot the thread said 'Top 5 Personalities In the League'

I hate the guy more than anyone but you're a fool to ignore his freak-of-nature athleticism and overall talent. Dude gets 20+ boards a game like ten times a season and puts every team they play in foul trouble.
Personalities can affect how the rest of your team plays so lets not completely ignore it. I'm someone who actually does value the intangibles though if you just want to value sheer talent and production so be it but I've played sports and organized sports in my life to understand the impact it has.

[ShaqAttack3234]

You could say the same for players like Dirk and Wade though. Your top 5 is the same as mine though so props. :cheers:

A big difference is age, Dwight will only be 27 next season, which is an age when most players are in the early years of their prime. Dirk will be 34, though he was pretty much playing like himself again after the first couple of months when he had some injuries. Wade will also be 31 which is usually when most players primes are coming to an end, and Wade is an injury prone player whose game relies quite a bit on athleticism due to his lack of a jump shot. Wade is skilled in other ways, and I'm sure he can remain an all-star for at least a couple of more seasons, but I'm skeptical of him returning to prime level.

It's a tough season to judge Wade with the lockout and injuries, but it's also easy to forget that he'll be 31.

[REACTION]

Regular season stats, but these are my rankings overall for the 11/12 season.

http://i.imgur.com/xQGCZ.jpg

[REACTION]

Took a rough tally of all the votes in this thread so far (might've missed a couple) and this is what it looks like:

http://i.imgur.com/Qu9vC.jpg

LeBron solidly at #1, Durant solidly at #2, CP3/Kobe pretty close for #3, Dwight... actually, maybe it should read LeBron, Durant, Dwight, Paul, Kobe..

[WockaVodka]

Took a rough tally of all the votes in this thread so far (might've missed a couple) and this is what it looks like:

http://i.imgur.com/Qu9vC.jpg

LeBron solidly at #1, Durant solidly at #2, CP3/Kobe pretty close for #3, Dwight... actually, maybe it should read LeBron, Durant, Dwight, Paul, Kobe..
Do you know how close the other players are? Like Wade, Westbrook, and whoever else was that wasn't on that picture but was in someone's top 5 in this thread.

[guy]

Rondo? I believe he wasn't even the best player on his own team last season and that his teammate KG was.

I disagree, but its close. KG might have been a top 10 player this year though only a few spots behind.

[TheCorporation]

1. LeBron James
2. Kevin Durant
3. Dwight Howard
4. Chris Paul
5. Russel Westbrook

[LBJMVP]

1. kyrie irving
2. lebron james
3. kevin durant
4. chris paul
5. dwight howard.

[BGriffin's Dad]

Durant
CP3
Griffin
Kobe
LeBron

[Asukal]

1. KD
2. LBJ
3. Kobe
4. DHoward
5. Westbrook

:cheers:

[RRR3]

:roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: @ anyone who doesn't have LeBron first. :facepalm

[Mr Exlax]

Lebron
Dwight
Rondo
Durant
Too many other people