Depressed fan has a post about who the top 10 Eastern Conference players to build a team around are; here is my top 10:
1) LeBron James - a no-brainer. He's the best all-around player in the NBA; a sure-fire future MVP (multiple MVPs, possibly); a legit triple-double threat, and he's only 22. He's four years away from the start of his prime. The knock against him? Simply that people are impatient. He hasn't show the leadership trait yet - yeah, of course he hasn't... he's 22! He still has maturing to do. Patrick Ewing, Hakeem, Jordan, et al - all of them were older than LBJ when they first entered the league. So cut LBJ some slack. He will be the best player in the league very soon, and you couldn't ask for a better player in the NBA to build your team around. Wait until he gets to Brooklyn in 2011.
2) Dwight Howard - the best rebounder in the league. His instincts are honed. He gets to the loose ball. We've seen his leaping ability; the boy can get UP. Solid defense. Good paint game, lots of room to grow and learn more. Nowhere near his full potential yet.
3) Emeka Okafor - I was surprised how low he was on Depressedfan's list. Didn't Howard and Okafor go back to back in the top 2 picks of 2004? Wasn't it a tough call for Orlando? Similarly, wasn't it a tough call for the rookie of the year voters that season? Okafor's injuries last season may have contributed to his slippage from people's mind, but... he can rebound as well as anyone in the league except for Howard, Wallace and KG. He can score, and as a more polished offensive game than Howard. Okafor's defense is sick - he averages almost 3 blocks a game. He's a monster all-around, and the only reason Howard is ahead of him is a) leaping ability b) overall potential. Okafor is Ewing to Howard's Hakeem.
4) Dwyane Wade - I'm tired of spitting out the cliches. Check it out - Wade is one championship up on everyone in front of him on this list. He beat a better team last season in the Finals (the Mavs) by simply forcing them to foul him. He makes the right choice with the alarming precision of a Peyton Manning. If you double him, he will find the open man. His championship team consisted of a lazy, tired Shaq and nothing else. Washed up Payton, never got it mentally Jason Williams, and a scrubby Antoine Walker. Give him his due - he stepped up, and took it to the Mavs, and they had no answers. He will find a way to win.
5) Chris Bosh - another great young forward/center. The Rapts are the biggest surprise this season, and they are a team no one wants to play in the playoffs. Bosh comes after Howard and Okafor primarily because Howard and Emeka are both slightly better rebounders, and definitely better defensive players. Bosh comes after Wade because Bosh, like KG, seems a little tentative at the end of games; maybe he'll become more clutch, but for now Wade has proven himself, and that's the (slight) difference in the two player. Bosh is no scrub - he is a rising star with a bright future.
6) Shaquille O'Neal - Not much left, but still a force of nature who forces you to pay attention. Still a guy who needs just one perimeter player to win championships. The most amazing thing about Shaq? Never played with a top point. We remember all the great (or thought they were great) SG - Penny, Kobe, now Wade, but never a truly good point. How many championship teams can be built around a subpar point guard? Only teams with Shaq or Jordan/Pippen, really.
7) Paul Pierce - Over the hill? Nope, just stuck on a franchise managed by Danny Ainge. He's not even 30 yet, and has averaged over 25 ppg each of the past seven season except for two; also averaged at least 6.6. rpg the past 7 years, and at least 4 apg the last five. He lead a mimumally talented Celtics team to within a game of the Finals in 2002; his only teammate of note was the immortal Antoine Walker. His career stats most mirror Vince Carter, but with more heart and determination. His value to the Celtics can best be measure this way - that team is so untalented that losing Pierce turned them from a bad team into a terrible team that lost 17 in a row.
8) Gilbert Arenas - pure entertainment, gets better every year, hard worker. Always in the gym. On the downside, his game IQ is, hmm... not a factor, as he possess no game thought, He is pure id. "The id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the situation." He also lacks leadership, and defensively is unimpressive. As great a pure offensive player as there is, but not the ideal player to build your team around.
9) Jason Kidd - huge contract, the only other player besides Shaq on this list that is past his prime, but still one of the best pure points in league history. Hey, Nash won two MVPs, but Kidd has had less to work with over the years. His only true finisher since the Nets got rid of K-Mart is Vince, and Vince is too far away from the paint 90% of the time to be finishing; Nash has had the best finishers in the game for the past three seasons (Amare, Marion). Also, you know what? Kidd should have won the MVP that year he got traded to the Nets. He took them to the finals. Pure points are hard to find, give Kidd some talent and you'll see why he's a lock for the HoF.
10) Vince Carter - sigh, Vince Carter. Have to put him up on the list, though I don't think he'll ever care about the game enough. Truth be told, that's okay... he's a grown man working, and we all have had jobs we don't like. Let's cut him some slack. It's not a matter of him not having enough heart, he's just not motivated. Think Roy Jones, Jr for most of his career. Supremely talented, could dominate and go down as one of the greatest of all-time, but simply not interested because it didn't appeal to him. Competitive people, like Jordan, are driven by ego. Vince is probably less ego than most NBA stars - not to say he is humble, but more like he doesn't care what you think of him. Once in a while he'll be motivated, and on those nights he is the most unstoppable player in the game. For that reason, you should want him on your team.
Just missed the cut:
Michael Redd - the sire of Allan Houston. A gifted shooter/scorer, but too one-dimensional to be the ideal foundation. Plus his knee injury is too Houston-like; having watched him play yesterday, he is still bothered by it, and should not be out there. Look for him to cut the season short.
Jermain O'Neal - too injured, just not that great a player. His team is forever .500.
The better question, though, might be not who is the best player to build a team around, but who would you want in charge of your team? After all, looking at this list you see some truly wasted talents - LBJ is mired on a so-so team; Pierce is doomed, though maybe a top-2 pick will salvage his prime; Jermaine O'Neal is also stuck with a terrible GM. We'll take a look at the GMs in the East tomorrow.
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Similar lists. Okafor didn't make mine for two reasons. 1: He missed basically the entire season last year, that worries me. 2: Age/experience. Howard was completely raw coming into the league, meaning where he is 3 years later is nowhere near his ceiling. Okafor had 4 years at UConn, making the learning curve much shorter. He's much closer to his full potential now than Howard is.
That being said, it was a close call between Emeka and Jermaine O'Neal on my list.