Top NBA Players After the Jordan Era
Let's get the rules out you must be playing professional basketball or drafted for the NBA no later than the '02 draft to be considered for the list, so no 'Bron or Amare here. Another thing is euro and Olympic basketball count. I know many won't agree with my picks, but this is just for a fun read. Let's get started.
Honorable Mentions
• Rasheed Wallace: Slightly overrated... Slightly overCRAZY... but still worthy of mentioning. Sheed was the missing piece the pistons needed to get over the hump and steal a title from the big bad Lakers. He can’t be on the list because he has shown that he can never be “THE” man. It’s sad really; he has the tools to be on a Tim Duncan level but can’t put it all together and live up to the potential. No denying though that he is a great role player that knows how to play his part. Did I mention that Holmes is crazy?
• Yao Ming: Arguably the best center in the league today (wow, reading that just made me realize how much I miss the Admiral/Hakeem/Ewing days). Suffers from the same virus as his teammate, Soft-Itus, can’t stay healthy. One explanation could be that he plays the whole calendar year. Dude, quit the Chinese team and give me one full NBA season, go for that NBA Trophy!
• Tracy Mcgrady: Talk about a career loser with superstar numbers. What was once a very promising career has sadly been derailed by injuries (probably got injured carrying those scrubs in Orlando to the playoffs), and a general ineffectiveness in the clutch. He lacks that killer instinct that separates the good (Vince, Allen, Sheed) from the great (Reggie, Jordan, Bird). With two scoring titles, two first and three second All NBA Team noms and a Most Improved Player award to his name, he definitely deserves a mention.
• Ray Allen: Jesus Shuttlesworth; The most prolific three-point shooter since Reggie, granted not as clutch, but then again who is? Like ‘Sheed though, he truly strives when playing the second banana role on a team. Before all is said and done, he’ll most likely break the three-point made record but his career will still lack the luster that Reggie’s had. He does however earn cool points for somewhat holding his own next to Denzel.
• Vince Carter: Half Man/Half Amazing; doesn’t have all of the accolades that the rest of these guys have, but when you can jump out of the gym, you don’t need them. Carter is the best dunker by farrrrrrr in the history of basketball (sorry ‘Nique). In game, in competition or in international play (ask Frédéric Weis). He single-handedly made the Raptors franchise relevant, leading them to the playoffs multiple times and getting as far as Game Seven of the second round. Fun fact, Carter is the same height, same weight, and went to the same school as one Michael Jeffrey Jordan. Keeping him off the list is the fact that he quit on his team, which is inexcusable.
• Tony Parker: For me, the toughest omission from the list. Unlike the others on the bubble this kid is a winner. He’s already sporting three rings and a finals MVP, and though it seems he’s been in the league forever he’s only 26. Stepped in for Avery Johnson when he was 19 and the Spurs haven’t skipped a beat. The only reason he’s not on the list is his age or lack thereof. Parker has played against Kidd, Payton, Deron, Paul, Nash and Billups in the playoffs and always come out on top. I rank him as the second best PG in the league right now.
Now, it's time to unleash the Top 10. Let's start things off with:
Or as Barkley would say, GINOBLIIIIIIIIIII. He's Goofy, He's White, He Flops, but he is damn good. This Olympic champion is possibly the most underrated superstar in the NBA. On the court this man can do it all, he can grab a board bring it up pass it to himself for an ‘Oop and on the next play he’ll steal the ball and make an out his ass pass to an open teammate.
Only player evah to win a euro title, gold medal, and an NBA title (three to be exact) he goes higher on my personal list, but I’m keeping this objective. Did I mention Manu is as clutch as they come?
The self proclaimed greatest player in the world (a bit off with this one). He doesn’t crack my top 15 of current NBA players but that’s another list, on this one however he checks in at number nine.
The Truth has been the best SF in the league the last 10 seasons (Bron doesn’t count; remember only players drafted before 01-02). Pierce is a seven-time all-star and NBA finals MVP but perhaps his biggest accomplishment is taking a team that had Antoine Walker as its second best player to the conference finals.
All-star check, MVP check, Finals Appearance check, best shooting big man ever check, Choke job check TWICE. Labeled as soft because he couldn’t get his team over the hump (a hump called the Spurs) but seemingly finally broke out in '06 when he had one of the best post seasons runs in recent memory.
He led the Mavs to the finals by finally defeating the Spurs and destroying the Suns in the western finals. Even took a two-games-and-three-quarter lead over Miami in the finals, but then his world came tumbling down, Miami won four straight and the following season (a 65-win season mind you) they lost badly to the Warriors with Dirk being the biggest choker of the group.
Let’s see, what do Russell, Chamberlain, Kareem, Moses, Bird, Magic, Jordan and Duncan have in common with Steve Nash? If you said back to back MVP awards pat yourself on the back. Also worthy of mentioning is Nash is only the third pg in history to win one.
Nash should rank higher but he has a couple of problems that leave him in a very respectable seventh place.
First, zero rings, in fact zero finals appearance, usually gets torched by faster pgs (Parker owns his soul) and the last one is that while he was a very solid player in Dallas, he only really has three or four seasons of greatness, all with D’Antoni.
It wasn’t all the coach though, Nash took the same team Starbury could barely get into the playoffs and made them the most entertaining team in the NBA and perennial championship contenders. Did I mention this man shoots 50 percent, 40 percent, and 90 percent like its nothing?
Talk about a player that can impact a game without scoring a single point. “J” ason Kidd is the best PG the league has seen this decade. Five time All NBA first team, runner up for the '02 MVP, nine-time all-star, not to mention a walking triple double who will retire being second all time in assists.
His biggest accomplishment is taking the same team Starbury took to the lottery (interesting, second Starbury reference and he isn’t even supposed to be in this list) and led them to back to back finals appearances, helping K-Mart and R. Jefferson land big money deals. Ranked ahead of Nash because in his prime at least, he could defend.
OK, if I were making this a personal list this man wouldn’t be so high I consider him overrated but people seem to think he’s been the second best forward in the NBA for a while now, so I’ll toss him in.
He has an MVP, been all NBA first team four times, but now this is my problem, He couldn’t carry a team to the playoffs, before being paired with two other HOF’ers, he only found himself out of the first round once, and even then he still played Robin to Pierce’s Batman. Also, I find his behavior on the court a bit embarrassing.
Lets start with the good, MVP award, 10 time all-star, three-time first team all NBA, third highest scoring average in history, led the sorriest team ever to the finals and stole my heart when he walked over Tyrone Lue.
Now the bad, AI is probably the last player I would take from the list to start a team, yes he can score but he shoots way too much, gambles too much for his steals and can’t guard anyone that weighs more than 190 pounds. Still does things on the floor a man of his stature should not be able to do.
Arguably the best player in the league right now (I would argue second), last year’s MVP , all NBA first team six times, six times all-defensive first team, two-time scoring champion, 11 time all-star, three-time NBA champ, and one of the best clutch players the league has seen. Tough to find bad things to say about him, but I will.
Bad teammate who can be seen yelling and giving stupid looks to his teammates, tends to go into ball hog mode a lot which costs the Lakers games, his fans think he is the best thing ever and don’t realize he has only lead the team out of the first round ONCE and has yet to win being the “Man.” But Mamba is no question a firm No. 3.
The Shaqtastic one, the self-proclaimed most dominant ever (with wilt being the actual MDE). Lets keep this good/bad format going, seems to work. 2000 MVP, three time finals MVP, two-time scoring champion, four rings, and has led every team he has played for to the finals (except Arizona).
Shaq is an easy pick here as the second best player of the era but he has some problems, he didn’t start dominating like this until Ewing/Robinson/Hakeem got old, so safe to say he did it in a watered down era for Bigs and that’s all I got. Congrats on the silver. Enjoy the Shaqtus over there in the desert.
And finally, the culmination of this grandiose blog, Thanks for coming along on this thrilling ride—the payoff, I know, was well worth it. Topping our list, and officially the poster boy for the Post Jordan era...
Shocking, I know, seriously though an easy pick here at number one. The best PF ever has led the spurs to four titles (being the Finals MVP for three of them).
Has won two MVP Awards, is the only player ever to be named to the All NBA and All Defense team every season of his career (Only season he missed first All NBA he was injured and still landed on the second).
Is he clutch you ask? I’m sure the Suns can answer that one.
Timmah has lost in the first round of the playoffs only once and can score from anywhere inside the three point line. You can say he was born to be basketball, when Barkley played him for the first time he had this to say “I’ve seen the future and he wears No. 21”. So for these reasons and many, many more Tim Duncan is your No. 1.
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