The NBA All-Decade Team: 2000s Edition

With the 2009-2010 season fast approaching, the end of a decade is set to dawn.

This is a  time to reflect on the great players that made it a decade to remember. I'll be doing an All-NBA Team sort of ranking to determine the top three players at each position. Instead of following the guard-forward-center ranking, it'll be a more strict ranking primarily on each position.

The Point Guards

The Candidates: Chauncey Billups, Tony Parker, Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul

The point guard position is the most debateable position of the 2000s. The candidates include bona fide scorers such as Gilbert Arenas, the prototypical point guard in Chauncey Billups, or MVP-caliber players in Nash, Parker, Kidd, and Paul.

The first ways to determine the top players at a position for an entire decade are based on longevity and accomplishments.

Basing it off those two, both Jason Kidd and Steve Nash are the no-brainer selections to make the list.

Both have been elite point guards since the early 2000s, with Nash having won two MVP's, and Kidd being the main catalyst for a team having been to the finals twice. Both trump the rest of the point guards in terms of career resumes.

Then, the question is, who makes All-NBA First Team between both Nash and Kidd?

Both have very similar games, but yet so different at the same time. Nash is an all-time great shooter from anywhere on the floor, while Kidd constantly takes criticism for his streaky shooting from the perimeter and his inability to make teams pay leaving him open.

Defensively, Nash is below average and lacks the lateral quickness to stay with most point guards. On the other hand, Kidd has been one of the top defensive guards in the league, combining and uncanny ability to rebound with terrific size and underrated quickness.

Both are amazing passers with tremendous court vision and have been the catalysts for successful teams. But they both ultimately lack the main prize: An NBA championship.

So it comes down to the old tale of defense versus offense. Honestly, in my opinion, Kidd is closer as an offensive player than Nash is to Kidd as a defensive player. For that reason, I'd rank Kidd slightly higher than Nash in an All-Decade scenario.

Not to mention, Nash didn't break out as a superstar point guard until he signed with the Suns in 2004, while Kidd has consistently been talked about as a superstar point guard from the early 2000s.

Now, the third and final spot comes down to Billups, Paul, and Parker.

I think it's obvious who the best player of the bunch is, and that's Chris Paul. He has the ability to play on both ends of the floor and dish out the assists on one of the slowest teams in the league.

What he's done the past two seasons is better than any season Nash or Kidd has put up. But, unfortunately, he's only been the best point guard in the league for two seasons, and he severely lacks the longevity to matchup with those two.

But Parker and Billups have one big edge. Not only are they champions, but they are both Finals MVPs as well.

I take Billups' MVP with more weight, with the reason being there is an actual legitimate argument that he was the best player on that team, while it was clear on the Spurs that Tim Duncan was still the main man.

Parker is the more lethal scorer, while again, Billups is the better defender. So going with what I said earlier, I feel Billups is the more fundamentally sound point guard and closer offensively than Parker is to Billups defensively.

It comes down to longevity and championships versus pure dominance. Billups' longevity gets somewhat overrated because he was bounced around until he made a name for himself in the 2003-04 season, but since then he has been one of the better point guards in the league.

Paul could have arguably been the MVP just two seasons ago and was the Rookie of the Year in 2005-06. But I can't get over the fact that he's only played in the league for four seasons—one of them struggling with injuries and another year being a rookie.

In a tough decision, I'd pick Billups over Paul.

The Shooting Guards

Candidates: Allen Iverson, Dwyane Wade, Ray Allen, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady (will also be listed at small forward), Manu Ginobili.

Someone missing from the candidates?

Yes, I purposely left Kobe Bryant off the list, because he's the obvious best shooting guard of this decade. He's the second-best shooting guard of all time, and no worse than the 12th-greatest player of all time.

The rest of the candidates include a flawed MVP in Iverson, a sharpshooter in Ray Allen, a Finals MVP in Dwyane Wade, and two underachieving, yet affective cousins, both of whom have established themselves as two of the more explosive players in the league.

I'm going to keep this short. People only now are realizing the flaws in Iverson's game, and the inefficient chucker from the perimeter that's always been a liability defensively. But one can't deny his four scoring titles, regular season MVP and the points he put up on the board.

Saying this, Wade is far more efficient from the floor, a much better defender, and put up one of the most historic finals performances of all time. Regardless of having less longevity, there's no doubt what Wade has accomplished in his rather short time in the league more than what Iverson has in his entire career.

So for the final spot, I'd eliminate Ginobili from the candidates, just because he hasn't been on the caliber of the rest of the players remaining. I'd frankly take the remaining over Iverson as an individual player, but aside from Ray Allen, neither Carter or McGrady have been close to the Finals, or have an MVP award.

Allen is a champion, but as a third option in the latter part of his career. But he's also proven he can be a third option on a championship team, while all Iverson has shown is the exact opposite—a reluctance to adjust for the betterment of the team.

But I can't help but think Iverson, despite the flaws in his game, is also the more renowned player, and thus more influential for what he's done in the 2000s.

The Small Forwards

Candidates: Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Paul Pierce, Tracy McGrady.

The talent at the small forward position isn't as strong as the other positions in this era, aside from center, so picking who makes the team is an easier decision.

James is the clear-cut best small forward of this decade, while Pierce, due to the team accomplishments in the past couple of seasons, will grab the second team spot.

Then it comes down to McGrady versus Anthony.

The only thing making this a somewhat tougher decision than it should be is Anthony's recent playoff success reaching the Western Conference Finals, while T-Mac has still never advanced out of the first round of his career.

But individually, not only does McGrady have the longevity edge, but he was also the considerably better player in nearly every aspect of the game. He has seven All-NBA selections, six top 10 Finishes in MVP voting, two NBA scoring titles and a Most Improved Player of the Year award.

If not for his horrible lack of winning, McGrady would be mentioned among the greatest to have ever played.

The Power Forwards

Candidates: Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki

There's no need for any more candidates.

Elton Brand and Chris Bosh have been successful in their careers as well, but neither are close to the caliber of the three power forwards in this decade. All of them are three of the greatest power forwards to have ever played, with Duncan possibly being the best.

It speaks volume of their dominance, considering the power forward position has been deep in this decade. I haven't mentioned Amar'e Stoudemire, or Jermaine O'Neal, both of whom were consistent All-NBA Team members every season.

The only one who comes close enough to make an argument is Chris Webber, who was one of the most well-rounded power forwards in the league and the catalyst of the biggest threat the Los Angeles three-peat Lakers faced. He's notorious for coming up short in big game situations, similar to Dirk Nowitzki. But unlike Nowitzki, Webber falls short in terms of longevity and lacks the MVP award Dirk has.

When it's all said and done, there'd be a legit argument that the 2000s power forward position was stronger than any other decade in the history of the game. Don't forget Karl Malone was still a very good player in the early 2000's as well, but he was past his prime and not on the level of those three.

The Centers

Candidates: Shaquille O'neal, Yao Ming, Dwight Howard, Ben Wallace, Amar'e Stoudemire

Shaq, like Kobe, LeBron and Duncan, is the consensus best center to have played in this decade. He was absolutely dominant in the early 2000s, and it's a crime that he doesn't have any MVP's (I'm discounting 1999-00) when he should have won it over the likes of Iverson or Nash in 2004-05.

Yao and Howard are both better individual players than Wallace, but neither come close to the four Defensive Player of the Year awards and NBA championship. Wallace also has five All-NBA Teams to his name, six All-Defensive Team selections and four All-Star selections. Considering he was also the heart and soul of that Detroit Piston championship team, Wallace gets the spot on my second team.

Yao has the longevity over Dwight, and is a better player than Amare. But both of them have their injury concerns, while Dwight is coming off a season where he was in the top five of MVP voting, the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year, and the anchor of a team that went to the NBA Finals.

In that season alone, he racked up more accomplishments than either Yao or Stoudemire have in their longer tenures in the NBA.

All-Decade Teams

First Team: Kidd, Bryant, LeBron, Duncan, O'Neal
Second Team: Nash, Wade, Pierce, Garnett, Wallace
Third Team: Billups, Iverson, McGrady, Nowitzki, Howard