Who Are the Real NBA Superstars?

After Tracy McGrady was declared out for the season two weeks ago, the Rockets have not missed a beat without him. The Rockets are 6-1 without McGrady with wins over Cleveland, Portland, and Dallas.

This got me thinking about whether McGrady is a real superstar and who exactly are the real superstars in the NBA today? How exactly do we classify who is or isn’t one?

In my opinion, a real superstar is a player that not only puts up big numbers, but makes his teammates better. A superstars by himself has the ability to lift his team up to the next level.

Although, it’s not definite, the best way to tell who is a real superstar is by how their team plays without them.

Some players who we naturally assume to be superstars might not be. For example, is Kevin Garnett a real superstar at this stage in his career? I'm not saying the Celtics are better off without him. However, the Celtics are 14-4 without him since being acquired.

The greatest example for me of a player that was assumed to be a superstar because of his great scoring ability, was Kobe Bryant during the Lakers' three-peat?

During the Lakers' title runs when Kobe was injured, the Lakers' regular season record was 25-7 (.78%). Interestingly, the Lakers' entire regular-season record during their three-peat was 181-65 (.735%), which is a lower record than when Kobe wasn’t playing. The Lakers actually had a better record when Kobe wasn’t playing.

On the other hand, if you took Shaq off the Lakers during their title runs, the Lakers had a regular-season record of 12-11 (.5217%).

The truth is that MVP Kobe Bryant we see nowadays is a much better player. Kobe used to be a very one dimensional player, but has matured and now makes his teammates better.

Another great example of a player who has been previously assumed to be a superstar is Allen Iverson. Regardless of whether you believe Iverson was a superstar with the 76ers, if would be hard to argue that he has been once since he went to the Nuggets.

The Nuggets, who were knocked of the first round the three previous years before they had Iverson, were knocked out in the first round the last two years they had Iverson as well.

The Pistons had a 59-23 record last year and a 3-0 record before they traded for Iverson. Now with Iverson, the Pistons are much worse and currently have a 24-28 record with Iverson playing.

In the last two games with Iverson being injured, the Pistons not coincidentally beat two of the best teams the league in the Celtics and the Magic. What real Superstar wouldn’t make another team better if traded to them?

The greatest example of a player who became a superstar because of his ability to make his teammates better is Steve Nash. The year before Nash came to the Sun’s, they were 29-53 and Nash was nothing more than an all-star.

With the addition of Nash the Suns immediately became a championship contender, and Nash became a superstar.

The Suns are 6-17 in games when Nash hasn’t played since 2004-'05. When he was injured during his two MVP seasons, the Suns were clearly not the same team without him.

I’m not sure if Steve Nash would have won his two MVP’s if he had never gotten hurt during his first season on the Sun’s.

His absence showed people that he was the real superstar on the team, not Amare Stoudemire. I remember the media at the time promoting Steve Nash as the MVP for that very reason.

Speaking of Amare Stoudemire and Nash. With both of them out the last three games, Shaq has helped the Suns get two of their best wins of the season against the Blazers and Lakers while scoring 78 points combined in his last two games.

Does this prove that Nash and Stoudemire aren't Superstars right now?

I'm not sure whether it does or not because there are so many latent reasons for the Sun's recent success.  The difference in the variation of touches and offensive scheme are all key factors for why the Sun's have been playing well. I think their absence more than anything else is showing that Shaq is still a Superstar.

When Shaq is getting the touches he has gotten in the last two games, he's proving once again that he is one of the elite players in the league.

In the NBA today, people often mistake players as superstars for their ability to put up big numbers. However, in reality, a player should be judged not by what his team does with him, but what his team would do without them.

To me the real superstars playing in the NBA today are Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, Tim Duncan, and Dirk Nowitzki. (If Shaq continues dominating, I may have to add him to this list)

If any of the players listed above, were to miss significant time, their teams would suffer tremendously.

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