www.bloguinoutsider.com/2010-articles/fe...ry/no-knowledge.html


You guys see it when McHale, Barkley, Kenny, Webber, and Ernie were talking about it after the All-Star game? The above link is a great article about it. Here's the comment I left:

Boy I was struggling on where to put Shaq. He was the player of 1995-2005. He won those championships the first 3 years of the decade, but 2003-2004 was when his production drop off began. I know he won that championship with Miami after that but that was DWade team and horrific officiating. On my first list I put him down a couple spots because I forgot all those Lakers teams where in the 2000's. If you flipped the decade around and Shaq was just off winning 3 championships there would be no doubt. The Shaq persona puts him over the top.

LeBron not on the list cause he only played 7 years of a decade? Was Michael Jordan not the player of the 80's or 90's?

1. Shaq
2. Kobe
3. Tim Duncan
4. LeBron
5. Allen Iverson
6. Dirk/Nash/KG/Kidd

pants wrote:
Thats a decent list but I'd still put Duncan 2 and Kobe 3. I say LeBron isn't on the list because he didn't play the whole decade and didn't win a title. If anything, he's number 6. AI played the whole decade and lost a title. KG played the whole decade and won a title.

1. Duncan
2. Shaq
3. Kobe
4. KG
5. Lebron
6. A.I.
7. Nash
8. Paul Pierce
9. Chauncey
10. D. Wade
11. Dirk
12. Kidd
13. TMac

I agree with BonK. Duncan is #1 for sure. If you swapped Tim Duncan and Shaq's personalities Duncan would be a unanimous #1 choice.

1. Duncan
2. Shaq
3. A.I.
4. KG
5. Kobe/Lebron tie (does nobody remember after Shaq left when Kobe could barely even get the Lakers to the playoffs? In the meanwhile, Lebron was carrying his talentless team to the Finals. How they voted Kobe #1 is beyond me)
7. Dirk/Nash tie (only got their MVP awards because they're white)

Another way of approaching this might be too look at who was best player in the NBA each year of the decade.

2000 - Shaq
2001 - Shaq
2002 - Shaq
2003 - Duncan
2004 - Duncan
2005 - Duncan
2006 - Kobe
2007 - Kobe
2008 - LeBron
2009 - LeBron

You could argue that Kobe was the 2nd best player from 2003 on (except when he was the best). He really undercut his best years with that Trial.

Good post Pants.

I think Shaq/Duncan is still a toss-up. I mean, you can really go either way. I think Shaq was more dominant though during his years than Duncan was. People forget...

And yeah, Kobe is third. I can live with that.

roundhouse wrote:
The lack of a personality in Duncan isn't a trivial detail and it is on court and off court. I just couldn't vote a guy number 1 who I wouldn't be excited to watch play AT ALL. There is no one else on the list I would say that about.