Top 10 Players For The 2008-2009 Season

After you watch a movie, and you see the phenomenal acting, you wonder, will the actors ever match up to that performance? It’s the same for the NBA. After the 2007-08 season, people wonder will the players be as good as they were last season? Will there be any surprises? The NBA has ten talented superstars in the league who many considered to be some of the best in the business. Whether it’s scoring 50 points in a game or recording a triple double they succeed at the sport. For the 2008-2009 season, there will be an encore with these stars.

1. LeBron James

The phenom, the king, and the soon to be best player in the world will be the best of these players. At the ripe age of 23, LeBron James will sit on his NBA throne. Not only does this guy have the speed, strength, and athleticism, he has major skill. Surround him with some mediocre role players, and he could take you to the finals. Give him an all star teammate, and he could even bring you a championship. James reached the NBA finals when he was 22 years old. He makes his teammates better while being able to lead the team in scoring. He can attack the basket at will and finish. LeBron doesn’t get much credit as being a defensive force, but his defense has improved ever since he has come into the league and he has improved on his jumpshot as well. He may not win MVP because of his team’s record, but he will be the best player in the league this season.  James could go down as one of the greatest ever at the pace he is currently going at, maybe even the best of all time.

“At this age LeBron is better than anybody I’ve ever seen in 37 years in this business, including Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady. I’m willing to bet my company’s millions that he will meet those high expectations.”
—adidas recruiter Sonny Vaccaro

2. Kobe Bryant

Mr.81, Black Mamba, and the reigning MVP will have another great season, but this time he is hoping is team will remain healthy through out the course of the season. Last year Kobe Bryant won his first MVP award, and it was a well earned one as he become the leader that everyone thought he would become some day. He made his teammates better and learned to trust them while leading the Lakers to the first seed in the tough Western Conference. He then led them to the finals, where the team was outplayed by the Boston Celtics and lost it in six games. Kobe is determined to reach the finals again this season with a healthy Andrew Bynum. Bryant may not win the MVP award this time because of all the talent surrounding him, but he will definitely be in the race. He was last season’s best player, but this year he will be 30 years old and looking for that fourth championship ring.

“Nobody can guard Kobe one-on-one. Nobody.”
—Former Lakers coach Del Harris

3. Chris Paul

One of last years nominees for MVP will have another great season. At the young age of 23, he has already passed Jason Kidd and Steve Nash as the top point guard and the league. He is one of the only players in the league that could drop 30 in a game while dishing out 20 assists. Paul has superb court vision, and takes over for the scoring load when his team needs him too. He has been in the league for 3 seasons, and has improved drastically in each season. He led his team to 50 wins last season, and has turned his teammate David West into an all star. He will have another great season, and he will probably win MVP and lead his team to a top 3 record in the Western Conference. When Paul retires, he could go down as one of the greatest point guards of all time and it’s scary that he hasn’t even hit his prime yet.

“He’s as good as we’ve had come into our league in a long, long time.”
—Bobcats head coach Larry Brown

4. Dwyane Wade

Flash seems to be the forgotten player in the NBA these days. People have forgotten what this man is capable of when he is healthy. Dwyane Wade was in the NBA finals a few seasons ago, and put on a show against the Dallas Mavericks. He shot lights out, made plays for others, and got to the line. Wade played well last season, but he wasn’t at 100 percent and missed many games. This year, with new teammate Michael Beasley and with Shawn Marion by his side, I think we will see some of that old Wade again. He averaged 24 points and 7 assists last year played half injured and will put up great numbers and lead the Heat back into the playoff hunt. Expect him to surprise tons of people this year with his stellar play.

“This is a special, special kid. The main thing overlooked about him is his knowledge of the game. With all his talent, he’s always playing it the right way. Guys love to play with people like that.”
—Damon Jones

5. Dwight Howard

Superman will put his cape on again this season and will be noticed as the best center in the league. Dwight Howard was a monster last season. He averaged 21 points, 14 rebounds, and 2 blocks last season while shooting 60 percent from the field. He was a dominate force on the defensive end, and was hard to be stopped on the offensive end. Expect even better from Dwight Howard this year. He has yet to miss a game in his NBA career and is a big, strong, physical player. He commands double teams and manages to still score. Dwight may have to work on his free throw shooting which is one of his few weaknesses. Dwight will lead the Magic to the playoffs once again, but this time he will go farther than many will think.

“He’s got the whole package of skills—athleticism, basketball IQ, foundation.”
—Former Magic head coach Johnny Davis

6. Amare Stoudemire

Stat has had a lot of criticism in his career about Steve Nash spoon feeding him and making him into the player he is today. Some of it is correct, but he deserves some more credit. He played out of position ever since he joined the Phoenix Suns by playing center which made him seem like a worse defender than he really is. When Shaquille O’Neal got traded to the Suns, Amare Stoudemire got to play his natural position, power forward. Ever since then he was a beast. He averaged 29 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 blocks a game since the trade and was arguably the best player on the team and an MVP candidate for the second half of the season. If he plays like he did at the ending of last season, this season, the league is in trouble. Amare could dunk in your face and has the ability to hit the outside jumper as well. He’s a better defender than people give him credit for, and he will show it this year when he guards player his size at power forward. Nash and Shaq are getting old, and soon Amare will be the one that leads the Suns into the playoffs.

“I think I'm doing good because of my strength, my quickness. A lot of the guys coming out of high school are really not as strong as I am. Not trying to sound conceited or anything, but I just worked hard in the summertime. I made the transition pretty smoothly.”
—Amare Stoudemire on his transition from high school to the NBA

7. Deron Williams

Deron Williams is the second best point guard in the league. No one mentions him though, because they are too busy watching and talking about Chris Paul. In head to head match-ups, Deron always gets the better of Paul by either out playing him, or just locking him down. Deron Williams is a big point guard, and is arguably the best passer in the game today. He can’t score like Paul can, but he would pass just as good. He gets nearly 11 assists a game, and shoots 50 percent from the field as a guard. He has led the Utah Jazz to the Western Conference finals before, and has shown that he too could become one of the greatest point guards of all time. He will be in the MVP race this season trying to lead Utah to a 50 win season.

“He does everything out there. He can shoot. He can play defense. He can grab rebounds. I mean, he’s been unbelievable.”
—Mehmet Okur

8. Gilbert Arenas

Agent Zero was injured for most of last season, and when he came back, he still wasn’t at 100 percent and had to sit out once again. Gilbert Arenas is still young at the age of 26 and could just be getting better. Last time he was completely healthy, he averaged 28 points, 6 assists, and 2 steals a game while leading the Wizards to the playoffs. Arenas is the best scoring point guard in the league next to Allen Iverson. He is one of the more clutch players in the league and can take over a game with the best of them. He has a shooting first mentality as the point guard, but can dish the rock when he needs to. He will have another good season this year, and with Caron Butler getting better and Antwan Jamison staying, this might finally be the year where Hibachi and the Wizards go deep into the playoffs.

"He’s kept us above water when everyone else had been out. He’s matured so much, being a teammate, somewhat being a leader, being a point guard, being a scorer."
—Wizards head coach Eddie Jordan

9. Tracy McGrady

T-Mac has had injury problems for a while now, and people are saying that he has a lost an edge to his game. Tracy McGrady is still one of the top notch plays in this league. Last season, when star teammate Yao Ming was injured for the remainder of the season, McGrady led the Houston Rockets to a 22 win streak and got them into the playoffs by leading them and making everyone around him better. In this stage of his career, T-Mac has become more of a passer, looking to set others up before taking over himself. In the first month of last season when he was healthy, he was considered the early MVP of the season. He then got injured once again and was forced to sit out games which made people forget about him. He ended up averaging 21 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds a game. McGrady has yet to exit the first round of the playoffs in his career, but with a healthy Yao Ming, this may finally be the year where McGrady looses his first round virginity.

“I hate to put pressure on him, but I think I’ll be telling my grandchildren about him. He has so much talent.”
—Grant Hill

10. Paul Pierce

The Truth was in the NBA finals last season with the Boston Celtics after miserable past seasons. Adding Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett by his side made him into a better player. Paul Pierce averaged 20 points a game on 14 shots and had 5 rebounds and 4 assists to go with it. He played stellar defense all season long, and was a candidate for MVP. In the finals, he outplayed season MVP Kobe Bryant, and led Boston to their 17^th NBA championship. Pierce finally got recognition as the best player on the Celtics, and won the finals MVP award. Expect a better season from Pierce this year, Boston may not win a championship again with the loss of James Posey, but with Pierce on the team, you can’t count them out yet.

“I enjoy watching him play, and I enjoy playing against him. He’s fantastic.”
—Kobe Bryant