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hey guys, I'd like you to read my friends article/discussion on 'Who is the Best Player' in the NBA that my friend Joe wrote.
Any comments, positive or negative, are certainly appreciated.
Thank you if you take the time to read it!
in this article he ranks the best NBA players at their respective position
here's the original article- it's a little more clean than how it may appear in the forum and has pictures and more 'reader-friendly' background.
Joe ESQ: Lebron is BY FAR the Best Player in the NBA, Durant, Kobe, Rose Can’t Even Carry Lebron’s Man Purse | Good Looking Loser
Joe makes several points, so you will likely disagree with some of them.
in short,
“Lebron is the best player at ANY position,”
“Even mentioning Kevin Durant in the same conversation as Lebron is ridiculous.”
“Kevin Durant isn’t a better player or teammate than Lebron.”
“Dwight Howard is the second best player in the league.”
“Kobe is one of the most overrated players in NBA history and I tell you why.”
“Sportscenter prefers Derrick Rose, but Chris Paul is significantly better.”
“Dirk Nowitzki is still way ahead of Kevin Love and Blake Griffin.”
(the reasons are given in the discussion below)
Joe ESQ: Lebron is BY FAR the Best Player in the NBA, Durant, Kobe, Rose Can’t Even Carry Lebron’s Man Purse
Ranking the best players at their positions
It’s that time of the year when people in the media start talking about the NBA MVP race. The award itself doesn’t seem that important to me. It’s another subjective award that has as much to do with public relations as it does with quality of play (Rose over LeBron last year is a perfect example). The debate about where basketball players rank against other basketball players is an interesting topic that generates a lot of conversation though, so below is my ranking of the best players at each position, ranked numerically in order starting with the best. Note that I’m not ranking who has had a better regular season this year. I’m ranking who the best players in basketball are at each position and how they rank overall against each other.
Joe ESQ’s All-NBA Team
PG- Chris Paul (4)
SG – Dwayne Wade (3)
SF – Lebron James (the best overall, by far)
PF – Dirk Nowitzki (5)
C – Dwight Howard (2)
Again, I’m ranking who the best players in basketball are at each position and how they rank overall against each other-
#1 LeBron James (Miami Heat, SF) Best Player in the NBA By Far.
“Lebron, best player- BY FAR.”
- Joe ESQ
This one’s easy. LeBron is head and shoulders above everyone else in basketball. He’s the most physically gifted player in the league, and is the best or among the best in every single aspect of the game: on-ball defense, help defense, ball-handling, passing, scoring efficiency, rebounding, penetrating and even post offense. “Everything you can do I can do better”—LeBron can truthfully say that to everyone else on Earth about almost any basketball skill.
As a result, LeBron puts up better stats than anyone. More important than any of his stats though is the fact that his presence on the court immediately makes everyone around him better. While that isn’t really quantifiable, we have pretty solid proof of it based on his success in Cleveland and his teammates’ lack of success without him. With LeBron, Cleveland went to the Finals and had the best record in the Eastern Conference multiple times. Without him, they finished last in the league. While there are excuses for that (injuries, changes to the roster, etc.), the lack of success of individual players on those teams is further proof. There are a handful of guys, referenced below, who were key contributors on competitive teams with LeBron but can barely hang on to a seat at the end of an NBA bench without him.
The only knock on LeBron is that he doesn’t step up when it matters. While there’s some support for that, it’s vastly overstated. Look at last year’s playoffs, for example. From the date of the Decision through the end of the regular season, the media almost universally said that Miami would not win the title. LeBron picked the wrong team, he and Wade won’t be able to play together, Boston has talent and more chemistry, etc. According to the experts (the real experts are in Vegas, but I’m not talking about them, I’m talking about commentators on TV and mainstream internet sites), Miami was going to lose to Boston and/or Chicago. Accordingly, when it came time for series’ against those teams, there was plenty of pressure on LeBron. Let’s analyze how he played in those games.
Lebron Can Dominate in Crunchtime Despite What The Media Says
Against Chicago, after the first game of the series, which Miami lost, every game came down to the final few minutes. In those moments, the series would be won or lost. They would have to be considered crunch time, right? In those moments, LeBron dominated in a way that I personally have never seen in a playoff series before (and I did watch Jordan win each of his titles). On defense, LeBron individually guarded the MVP of the league, Derrick Rose, and completely and utterly shut him down. Rose could literally do nothing. He couldn’t score. He couldn’t penetrate. He couldn’t set up teammates. It looked as though he couldn’t even breathe. All Rose did was turn it over or miss shots. This wasn’t one or two possessions. This was the last few minutes of every game; four of which Miami won consecutively. It wasn’t only on the defensive end either, as LeBron hit almost all of Miami’s big shots down the stretch against Chicago, which had the best defense in the league.
Think about what an accomplishment that was– in the most pressure packed moments of games in the Eastern Conference Finals, against the No. 1 team and the one most in the media said would win, LeBron completely and utterly dominated the MVP of the league on one end and the best defense in the league on the other. Have we ever seen that before? If so, when? If that’s not clutch, what performance is?
That wasn’t the only time it happened last year either. Against Boston, LeBron did the same thing. Anyone remember LeBron leading the Heat from behind in the fourth quarter with a bunch of tightly contested threes, and then a steal and dunk to finish off that series? Is that not clutch? It certainly seemed pretty clutch at the time. Was that series less important than the Finals? Not to Miami it wasn’t. By getting to the Finals, they exceeded expectations at least. Had they lost to Boston in the second round, their season would have been considered a miserable failure and LeBron would have taken even more heat from everyone.
Just to recap, the Boston series mattered, and LeBron came through in the clutch. The Chicago series mattered, and LeBron came through in the clutch in a way that was arguably better than any player ever had before . The Dallas series mattered, and he didn’t (even though Miami was one Wade FT (game 4) and one stop (game 2) from winning that series anyway). You can say that’s proof he’s not clutch, but it looks more like proof that he’s human.
~#1b Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder, SF)
“Durant, good player, nowhere close to Lebron at anything besides shooting 3-pointers.” – Joe ESQ
Outside of LeBron, the only other guy I think some would list as the best SF is Kevin Durant. Even mentioning Kevin Durant in the same conversation with LeBron is ridiculous. The only thing Durant can arguably do better than James is shoot 3s. That’s it. LeBron is a much better defender. He’s a better rebounder. He’s a better passer. He’s a better ball handler. He’s better at driving to and finishing at the basket. He’s better in the post. He’s a more efficient scorer.
Of course, the pro-Durant camp will say he’s a better teammate. As a basis for that, they’ll say that (1) Durant signed an extension with his original team without making a big deal about it, and (2) his teammates love him and work hard for him. As explained below, while both facts may be true, the argument that they PROVE he’s a better teammate are COMPLETE BULL****.
“Kevin Durant is not a better player or teammate than Lebron James.”
- Joe ESQ
(1) Durant signed an extension with a team that has provided him with maybe the best supporting cast in the league. Durant is surrounded by an All-Star point guard, and All-Star swing man, and good post defenders/rebounders. Of course he’s going to sign an extension there. What reason would he have not to? Where else would he be in a better situation? LeBron (and Howard too) spent years carrying a bunch of garbage deep into the playoffs. His team had countless chances to add some decent players and never did. If LeBron wanted to win it all or play with friends and/or good players, he had no choice by to leave. If Durant wanted the same thing, he had no choice but to sign an extension. Thus, on this front, the only difference between the two is luck—Durant was lucky to get drafted by a better franchise than LeBron. (And don’t bring up The Decision either, because there’s no way that event had an adverse effect on his teammates. Not playing with LeBron hurt them. How he announced it did not.)
(2) The best description of a great teammate is not one that teammates like, but one that makes his teammates better. By that definition, LeBron is clearly a better teammate than Durant. Lousy players have made careers out of playing with LeBron. Guys like Boobie Gibson, Donyell Marshall, Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden were key players on competitive teams when playing with LeBron. Without him, they’re lucky to even be on an NBA roster. The same is true for guys like Joel Anthony and Mario Chalmers even now. Take LeBron away from those guys and they immediately become less efficient and their defensive deficiencies become more evident.
“Kevin Durant didn’t even make the Texas Longhorns a better team.” – Joe ESQ
Who has Durant ever done that for? Which players became instantly better when playing with Durant than they were anywhere else? If you were to take him off Oklahoma City, would they finish in last place? I understand he’s young and there’s a small sample size, but we saw what happened at Texas. His team was better the year after Durant left than they were with him. The players from that team were just as good the year after Durant left as well. This isn’t just conjecture, this is proven by team results and one key stat—every year in college and the pros, Durant has had MORE TURNOVERS THAN ASSISTS. He doesn’t penetrate and then when the defense collapses find open teammates. He doesn’t draw double teams and then find open teammates. He’s a great scorer; primarily a great jump shooter. LeBron is a great overall player. There’s a huge difference.
#2 Dwight Howard- (Orlando Magic, C)
“Dwight Howard is the second best player in the league.”
- Joe ESQ.
After LeBron at No. 1, this is the easiest choice on this list, both as the best center and also the second best player in the league. Howard is the best rebounder and defender in the league. His presence on the court instantly makes everyone around him better. Like LeBron in Cleveland, Howard has proven that in Orlando. He carried Orlando to Finals and has them in the playoffs every year, usually in the second or third round, despite being surrounded by garbage. How many of his teammates have had success elsewhere without him? Turkoglu was an All-Star with Howard– the second best player on a Finals team– but he was almost worthless without him. The same goes for guys like Rashard Lewis, Rafer Alston and Ryan Anderson. He’s been surrounded by guys who can’t play defense and can’t do anything offensively other than shoot, but he’s made them look like above average, well rounded players. It’s easy to have success when someone completely covers your defense failures and gets you open shots (by having defenders collapse in on him).
Let me ask two questions.
First, outside of LeBron, is there any other player who could have Orlando in the top half of the conference?
Big men like Kevin Love and/or Blake Griffin couldn’t. We’ve seen them miss the playoffs with better supporting casts. Great players on the perimeter couldn’t either. Kobe had a better supporting cast than Howard during his two years without a dominant center and he couldn’t do it. Don’t say Derek Rose, because with him and not Howard, Orlando wouldn’t be able to stop a mediocre college team from scoring. The answer is nobody.
Second, is there any team that, with Dwight Howard, wouldn’t make the playoffs?
Put Howard on Washington, and they’d be just as good as Orlando is now. Put him on Minnesota instead of Kevin Love, and there’s no way they’d be 6 games below .500 with or without Rubio. (Has Howard ever even played with a player as good as Rubio?)
The knock on Howard can be the same as LeBron—he hasn’t carried his team in the clutch. His team lost in 5 games in the Finals. It can also be said that Howard can’t be counted on to make the last shot when his team is down by one with 10 seconds left. Those aren’t really valid. The fact that Howard got that lousy team to the Finals is proof of his greatness. Their failure to win that series only shows that he’s not superhuman. The difficult in going to him on a final possession is unfortunate, but his greatness in the only reason his team will have a chance to win the game to begin with.
Like LeBron above, there is maybe one overrated player who some would mention here instead of Howard; Andrew Bynum. Unlike Durant, Bynum’s not even worthy of the time it takes to write why he’s inferior to Howard. He’s inferior in every possible aspect.
Any comments, positive or negative, are certainly appreciated.
Thank you if you take the time to read it!
in this article he ranks the best NBA players at their respective position
here's the original article- it's a little more clean than how it may appear in the forum and has pictures and more 'reader-friendly' background.
Joe ESQ: Lebron is BY FAR the Best Player in the NBA, Durant, Kobe, Rose Can’t Even Carry Lebron’s Man Purse | Good Looking Loser
Joe makes several points, so you will likely disagree with some of them.
in short,
“Lebron is the best player at ANY position,”
“Even mentioning Kevin Durant in the same conversation as Lebron is ridiculous.”
“Kevin Durant isn’t a better player or teammate than Lebron.”
“Dwight Howard is the second best player in the league.”
“Kobe is one of the most overrated players in NBA history and I tell you why.”
“Sportscenter prefers Derrick Rose, but Chris Paul is significantly better.”
“Dirk Nowitzki is still way ahead of Kevin Love and Blake Griffin.”
(the reasons are given in the discussion below)
Joe ESQ: Lebron is BY FAR the Best Player in the NBA, Durant, Kobe, Rose Can’t Even Carry Lebron’s Man Purse
Ranking the best players at their positions
It’s that time of the year when people in the media start talking about the NBA MVP race. The award itself doesn’t seem that important to me. It’s another subjective award that has as much to do with public relations as it does with quality of play (Rose over LeBron last year is a perfect example). The debate about where basketball players rank against other basketball players is an interesting topic that generates a lot of conversation though, so below is my ranking of the best players at each position, ranked numerically in order starting with the best. Note that I’m not ranking who has had a better regular season this year. I’m ranking who the best players in basketball are at each position and how they rank overall against each other.
Joe ESQ’s All-NBA Team
PG- Chris Paul (4)
SG – Dwayne Wade (3)
SF – Lebron James (the best overall, by far)
PF – Dirk Nowitzki (5)
C – Dwight Howard (2)
Again, I’m ranking who the best players in basketball are at each position and how they rank overall against each other-
#1 LeBron James (Miami Heat, SF) Best Player in the NBA By Far.
“Lebron, best player- BY FAR.”
- Joe ESQ
This one’s easy. LeBron is head and shoulders above everyone else in basketball. He’s the most physically gifted player in the league, and is the best or among the best in every single aspect of the game: on-ball defense, help defense, ball-handling, passing, scoring efficiency, rebounding, penetrating and even post offense. “Everything you can do I can do better”—LeBron can truthfully say that to everyone else on Earth about almost any basketball skill.
As a result, LeBron puts up better stats than anyone. More important than any of his stats though is the fact that his presence on the court immediately makes everyone around him better. While that isn’t really quantifiable, we have pretty solid proof of it based on his success in Cleveland and his teammates’ lack of success without him. With LeBron, Cleveland went to the Finals and had the best record in the Eastern Conference multiple times. Without him, they finished last in the league. While there are excuses for that (injuries, changes to the roster, etc.), the lack of success of individual players on those teams is further proof. There are a handful of guys, referenced below, who were key contributors on competitive teams with LeBron but can barely hang on to a seat at the end of an NBA bench without him.
The only knock on LeBron is that he doesn’t step up when it matters. While there’s some support for that, it’s vastly overstated. Look at last year’s playoffs, for example. From the date of the Decision through the end of the regular season, the media almost universally said that Miami would not win the title. LeBron picked the wrong team, he and Wade won’t be able to play together, Boston has talent and more chemistry, etc. According to the experts (the real experts are in Vegas, but I’m not talking about them, I’m talking about commentators on TV and mainstream internet sites), Miami was going to lose to Boston and/or Chicago. Accordingly, when it came time for series’ against those teams, there was plenty of pressure on LeBron. Let’s analyze how he played in those games.
Lebron Can Dominate in Crunchtime Despite What The Media Says
Against Chicago, after the first game of the series, which Miami lost, every game came down to the final few minutes. In those moments, the series would be won or lost. They would have to be considered crunch time, right? In those moments, LeBron dominated in a way that I personally have never seen in a playoff series before (and I did watch Jordan win each of his titles). On defense, LeBron individually guarded the MVP of the league, Derrick Rose, and completely and utterly shut him down. Rose could literally do nothing. He couldn’t score. He couldn’t penetrate. He couldn’t set up teammates. It looked as though he couldn’t even breathe. All Rose did was turn it over or miss shots. This wasn’t one or two possessions. This was the last few minutes of every game; four of which Miami won consecutively. It wasn’t only on the defensive end either, as LeBron hit almost all of Miami’s big shots down the stretch against Chicago, which had the best defense in the league.
Think about what an accomplishment that was– in the most pressure packed moments of games in the Eastern Conference Finals, against the No. 1 team and the one most in the media said would win, LeBron completely and utterly dominated the MVP of the league on one end and the best defense in the league on the other. Have we ever seen that before? If so, when? If that’s not clutch, what performance is?
That wasn’t the only time it happened last year either. Against Boston, LeBron did the same thing. Anyone remember LeBron leading the Heat from behind in the fourth quarter with a bunch of tightly contested threes, and then a steal and dunk to finish off that series? Is that not clutch? It certainly seemed pretty clutch at the time. Was that series less important than the Finals? Not to Miami it wasn’t. By getting to the Finals, they exceeded expectations at least. Had they lost to Boston in the second round, their season would have been considered a miserable failure and LeBron would have taken even more heat from everyone.
Just to recap, the Boston series mattered, and LeBron came through in the clutch. The Chicago series mattered, and LeBron came through in the clutch in a way that was arguably better than any player ever had before . The Dallas series mattered, and he didn’t (even though Miami was one Wade FT (game 4) and one stop (game 2) from winning that series anyway). You can say that’s proof he’s not clutch, but it looks more like proof that he’s human.
~#1b Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder, SF)
“Durant, good player, nowhere close to Lebron at anything besides shooting 3-pointers.” – Joe ESQ
Outside of LeBron, the only other guy I think some would list as the best SF is Kevin Durant. Even mentioning Kevin Durant in the same conversation with LeBron is ridiculous. The only thing Durant can arguably do better than James is shoot 3s. That’s it. LeBron is a much better defender. He’s a better rebounder. He’s a better passer. He’s a better ball handler. He’s better at driving to and finishing at the basket. He’s better in the post. He’s a more efficient scorer.
Of course, the pro-Durant camp will say he’s a better teammate. As a basis for that, they’ll say that (1) Durant signed an extension with his original team without making a big deal about it, and (2) his teammates love him and work hard for him. As explained below, while both facts may be true, the argument that they PROVE he’s a better teammate are COMPLETE BULL****.
“Kevin Durant is not a better player or teammate than Lebron James.”
- Joe ESQ
(1) Durant signed an extension with a team that has provided him with maybe the best supporting cast in the league. Durant is surrounded by an All-Star point guard, and All-Star swing man, and good post defenders/rebounders. Of course he’s going to sign an extension there. What reason would he have not to? Where else would he be in a better situation? LeBron (and Howard too) spent years carrying a bunch of garbage deep into the playoffs. His team had countless chances to add some decent players and never did. If LeBron wanted to win it all or play with friends and/or good players, he had no choice by to leave. If Durant wanted the same thing, he had no choice but to sign an extension. Thus, on this front, the only difference between the two is luck—Durant was lucky to get drafted by a better franchise than LeBron. (And don’t bring up The Decision either, because there’s no way that event had an adverse effect on his teammates. Not playing with LeBron hurt them. How he announced it did not.)
(2) The best description of a great teammate is not one that teammates like, but one that makes his teammates better. By that definition, LeBron is clearly a better teammate than Durant. Lousy players have made careers out of playing with LeBron. Guys like Boobie Gibson, Donyell Marshall, Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden were key players on competitive teams when playing with LeBron. Without him, they’re lucky to even be on an NBA roster. The same is true for guys like Joel Anthony and Mario Chalmers even now. Take LeBron away from those guys and they immediately become less efficient and their defensive deficiencies become more evident.
“Kevin Durant didn’t even make the Texas Longhorns a better team.” – Joe ESQ
Who has Durant ever done that for? Which players became instantly better when playing with Durant than they were anywhere else? If you were to take him off Oklahoma City, would they finish in last place? I understand he’s young and there’s a small sample size, but we saw what happened at Texas. His team was better the year after Durant left than they were with him. The players from that team were just as good the year after Durant left as well. This isn’t just conjecture, this is proven by team results and one key stat—every year in college and the pros, Durant has had MORE TURNOVERS THAN ASSISTS. He doesn’t penetrate and then when the defense collapses find open teammates. He doesn’t draw double teams and then find open teammates. He’s a great scorer; primarily a great jump shooter. LeBron is a great overall player. There’s a huge difference.
#2 Dwight Howard- (Orlando Magic, C)
“Dwight Howard is the second best player in the league.”
- Joe ESQ.
After LeBron at No. 1, this is the easiest choice on this list, both as the best center and also the second best player in the league. Howard is the best rebounder and defender in the league. His presence on the court instantly makes everyone around him better. Like LeBron in Cleveland, Howard has proven that in Orlando. He carried Orlando to Finals and has them in the playoffs every year, usually in the second or third round, despite being surrounded by garbage. How many of his teammates have had success elsewhere without him? Turkoglu was an All-Star with Howard– the second best player on a Finals team– but he was almost worthless without him. The same goes for guys like Rashard Lewis, Rafer Alston and Ryan Anderson. He’s been surrounded by guys who can’t play defense and can’t do anything offensively other than shoot, but he’s made them look like above average, well rounded players. It’s easy to have success when someone completely covers your defense failures and gets you open shots (by having defenders collapse in on him).
Let me ask two questions.
First, outside of LeBron, is there any other player who could have Orlando in the top half of the conference?
Big men like Kevin Love and/or Blake Griffin couldn’t. We’ve seen them miss the playoffs with better supporting casts. Great players on the perimeter couldn’t either. Kobe had a better supporting cast than Howard during his two years without a dominant center and he couldn’t do it. Don’t say Derek Rose, because with him and not Howard, Orlando wouldn’t be able to stop a mediocre college team from scoring. The answer is nobody.
Second, is there any team that, with Dwight Howard, wouldn’t make the playoffs?
Put Howard on Washington, and they’d be just as good as Orlando is now. Put him on Minnesota instead of Kevin Love, and there’s no way they’d be 6 games below .500 with or without Rubio. (Has Howard ever even played with a player as good as Rubio?)
The knock on Howard can be the same as LeBron—he hasn’t carried his team in the clutch. His team lost in 5 games in the Finals. It can also be said that Howard can’t be counted on to make the last shot when his team is down by one with 10 seconds left. Those aren’t really valid. The fact that Howard got that lousy team to the Finals is proof of his greatness. Their failure to win that series only shows that he’s not superhuman. The difficult in going to him on a final possession is unfortunate, but his greatness in the only reason his team will have a chance to win the game to begin with.
Like LeBron above, there is maybe one overrated player who some would mention here instead of Howard; Andrew Bynum. Unlike Durant, Bynum’s not even worthy of the time it takes to write why he’s inferior to Howard. He’s inferior in every possible aspect.
