Best NBA Players of the 00's

1. Kevin Garnett- 23 points, 12 rebounds on 50% shooting
* Seven straight years of 21-11

2. Shaq- 21 points, 10 rebounds on 58% shooting.
* Averaged at least 27-10 three different years.

3. Duncan- 21 points, 11 rebounds on 50% shooting
* 9 straight years averaging at least 18-10

4. Kobe- 28 points, 5 assists, 6 rebounds on 46% shooting
*35 ppg in 05-06, good for best of the decade.

5. Nash- 17 points, 9 assists on 50% shooting (43% from three).
*Led league in APG four times

6. Dirk- 24 points, 9 rebounds on 47% shooting (39% from three)
*Never led league in any statistical category

1. Garnett- Eight first team selections. He's also the only member of this group to be awareded with the Defensive Player of the Year Award. Not only is he skilled at physically defending the opponent, he also has been a vocal leader for his own team's defense his entire career.

2. Duncan- Seven first team selections. A fantastic defender, especially in the clutch, Duncan has proved himself capable of stopping nearly every big man in the game today. With all the chips on the talbe, he would be a guy you would feel comfortable betting on.

3. Kobe- Seven first team selections. It's hard for me to put Kobe this far down the list because I know how much he prides himself on his D, but the guys ahead of him are just too good. The work he has put in over the last decade has shown tremendous return and he remains an elite stopper.

4. Shaq- Although he's not an outstanding defender he was consistently among the league leaders in blocked shots. His huge frame allowed him to box out other centers with apparent ease. Also his offensive prowess often had opposing centers short of breath on the offensive end. Had he been more passionate about his defense he could have been further up this list.

5. Dirk- While not being a horrible defender, Dirk is certainly far from good. He lacks length and muscle making it easy for more physical players to take advantage of him.

6. Nash- He is frequently abused by bigger, faster point guards all over the floor. He's a poor rebounder and rarely is able to stay in front of his man on D. He is by far the worst player on this list.

I'm including finals MVP's here as well because a finals MVP is by definition the most important piece of any title.

1. Shaq- Four titles in five appearances as well as the three finals MVP awards gives him the slight edge here.

2. Kobe- Four titles in six appearances is best on the list. He's second because he's only been the marquee player (aka MVP) on one title team.

3. Duncan- Three tiles in three appearances. Check. Two finals MVP awards. Check. Arguably the best PF ever. Check. Never having another superstar around to help. Check. Even with all that, Kobe and Shaq have him beat here.

4. Garnett- One title in one appearance. It's a pretty steep drop off from three to four here.

5. Dirk- One championship appearance.

6. Nash- Nada. One Western Conference finals appearance, but that doesn't mean much when you are on this list.

1. Duncan- Two MVP's, Two finals MVP's, Ten All Star Games, Eight first team all NBA selections

2. Shaq- One MVP, Three finals MVP's, Seven first team All NBA selections, ten all star games, Three all star game MVP's, one scoring title

3. Kobe- One MVP, One finals MVP, Seven first team All NBA selections, Ten All Star Games, Three All Star Game MVP's, Two scoring titles.

4. Garnett- One MVP, Four first team All NBA selections, Ten All Star teams, One All Star game MVP, Four time single season leader in rebounds per game

5. Nash- Two MVP's (sorry but these weren't both deserved), Three first team All NBA selections, Six All Star teams

6. Dirk- One MVP, Four first team All NBA selections, Eight All Star teams

So if we stricly do this via a point system and weight each category equally (Six points for first, 5 for second, etc) we find the results as follows-

Shaq and Tim Duncan are the players of the decade with 19 points each.
Garnett is third with 18 points.
Kobe is fourth with 17 points
Dirk and Steve nash round out the top six with six points each.

After adding these totals up I found myself thinking "Wow, even thought I really don't like Kobe, I'm surprised that I didn't find him to be the player of the decade."

It's my opinion that because the early 2000's happened so long ago, we will have a tendency to sort of forget it. I'm sure many of you will come back firing that Kobe or Lebron is the best, but we have to look at an entire period to judge the best player of that time, not just the most recent five years. When I looked back I found that the play of the big men was just too dominant to ignore.

Although Shaq may be looking old, you can't overlook his sheer and utter dominance in the early and mid 00's.

Duncan may not be as good as he was five years ago, but he consistently led his teams to titles throughout the decade.

Anyway. That's my take on this matter. Hope you enjoyed it even if you don't agree.