Imagine you had the power to create the perfect basketball player, utilizing the abilities of any current NBA star, who would be used in the mix? Here is my perfect player.
Passing: Steve Nash
Nash is the greatest passer in the game today.
Long Distance Shooting: Ray Allen
Few would argue with Ray Allen’s amazing ability to hit the 3 point shot.
Power: Shaquille O’Neal Few NBA players can plow their way to the basket the way that Shaq can.
Shot- Blocking: Dikembe Mutombo
He may be getting up there in years, but few players in NBA history have ever been able to block shots like Mutombo.
Stealing: Chris Paul
No one has hands like CP3 in the NBA today.
Handling: Allen Iverson
Allen Iverson handles the ball like it was an extension of his body.
Inside Shooting: Tim Duncan
Mr. Fundamental can score on the inside with ease.
Dunking: Lebron James
He may have refused to enter the NBA slam dunk contest a year back, but there’s no doubt that his dunking ability is among the best in the game.
Rebounding: Dwight Howard
Howard is an absolute monster in the paint.
Quickness: Nate Robinson
He’s as fast as anyone in the game today.
Drawing The Charge: Anderson Varejao
He may not get much credit for what he does, but Varejao can draw a charge as well as anyone in the game.
Tenacity: Kevin Garnett
Kevin’s will to win on a daily basis is on another level.
Clutch: Kobe Bryant
When the game is on the line, there is absolutely no one that you would rather have the ball in their hands than Kobe.
My ideal NBA player would have all of these abilities in the form of one individual. What would YOUR perfect player be?
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4 months ago
Good article. I like all your choices.
4 months ago
perfect choices
4 months ago
Ray Allen for long distance shooting? Are you nuts? Allen is shooting .394 from three-point range. Nash is shooting .484, and is doing it mostly without teammates setting up his shots like they do for Allen. You have to take Nash's shooting, even if you already have his passing.
And for shot-blocking, Mutombo may have been one of the best in his day, and he's still pretty good, but by no stretch of the imagination is he the best in the league today. There are a *lot* of players who are more disruptive around the rim than Mutombo. The best is probably the reigning DPOY, Marcus Camby.
4 months ago
I def respect your opinion for both arguments. For 3 point shooting, i pretty much didn't want Nash to be used twice. Besides, he doesn't have as much scoring responsibility on his team. As for Camby, I was about to give it to him, but then i thought, Dikembe still gets a ton of blocks without even being a starter. So yea, even 1 of them would be a great choice for blocking.
4 months ago
"Besides, he doesn't have as much scoring responsibility on his team."
What are you talking about? Nash is second on his team in scoring, and Allen is third on his.
And I don't have stats on this, but I'm sure that if you looked at the last five minutes of close games, Nash's scoring would be *way* ahead of Allen's. In the clutch, the Suns depend on Nash more than anybody, even Stoudemire.
4 months ago
Steve Nash has 170 3 pointers made this season. Ray Allen has 415. So yea, I think Ray Allen has much more of a scoring responsibility on his team, as a shooting guard should. In addition, Ray Allen averages many more points per game than Nash, further illustrating his higher scoring responsibility. This is not meant to take anything away from Nash, who is undoubtedly an amazing player, but the fact is that Ray Allen performs at the highest level with the highest amount of responsibility in respect to long distance shooting.
4 months ago
"Ray Allen averages many more points per game than Nash"
Why don't you look this stuff up before you post? Allen is averaging 18.0 points, Nash 17.5. Half a point per game is "many more"?
4 months ago
What do you want from your "Ultimate Basketball Player"?
Do you want somebody who spends a large part of the game camping out at the three point line, letting his teammates draw the defense and find him for spot up three-pointers that he hits at .399?
Or do you want a player for whom the three-point shot is just a part of his game, only attempting 4-5 a game, but hitting them at an uncanny .479?
4 months ago
Kobe finishes around the hole way better than Lebron does. Kobe for dunking but he is pretty dang clutch.
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